It's Called Freedom
by EternallyDrowning
Summary: They were monsters, demons...pirates. The only people to ever make is back from Hell's Gate alive... They were cold and murderous, but one innocently small bubbly pink haired little girl may change all of that... if they don't decide to kill her first.
1. Port Angel

**Hello anyone who actually reads these before the chapter begins info thingies. Sorry. I'll probably be able to update soon, but I want to see what people think of it before I do, because it would be weird updating a story that no one is going to read. So, anyways, please enjoy…**

* * *

The full moon reflected down into the murky waters of Angel Bay. The air was stale and humid causing a thick layer of fog to pass throughout the port as a completely black ship floated through the stained waters toward the silent docks.

Pairs of black leather boots splashed into the shallow garbage infested waters and waded their way toward the loud town that awaited them.

Angel Bay and the city of Hevn are not named as such because they are peaceful and beautiful.

No, they were named that to spite God.

Diamonds, iron, gold, and other precious metals were once found in great abundance almost everywhere on the small island, but humans are greedy and are easily swayed to the side of jealousy. Soon all the riches of the land disappeared, but the greed of mankind did not. Now, the once rich island was empty of worth, so the people turned to themselves to get it back. Thieves, murderers, drunks, maniacs…they ruled the island. People were kidnapped and sold as slaves. Women were sold by their own parents to work as whores and concubines or grabbed right from the streets in front of witnesses. No one helped anyone, only themselves.

Such is the city of Hevn.

This place was called Angel and Hevn to spite God, perhaps in the hope he would smite them all from this hell, but He never did.

The island has been forsaken by God himself.

* * *

Five dark hooded cloak wearing figures appeared from the fog, only to disappear within the large crowded city streets.

"This place is disgusting." one of the figures growled after side stepping into a puddle of mud and God knows what in order to avoid having to step in a pile of vomit.

"And here I thought it suited you." another figure sneered.

"Enough." ordered another.

Both figures went quiet.

The group continued trudging through the grimy road while being pressed against strangers that smelt of alcohol, vomit, and urine- passing lamp lit building containing either bars or brothels.

"We'll never find our supplies at this rate. Split up." came another order from the 3rd figure. "Make sure to cover yourselves to avoid being recognized. We'll meet at the pub nearest to the ship at dawn. Go with your assigned partner if they're here. Follow the rules and keep a low profile. We don't want to draw attention to ourselves if we can help it, but if it's unavoidable, gut them fast and leave the scene."

The members nodded in agreement before separating and fanning out through the hazy smoke filled crowd.

* * *

A man shoved his way through the crowd in a drunken frenzy, yet he was still sober enough to hold a bottle of rum and frequently take a fresh swig from it. The two people ahead of him had their heads held down as they wandered throughout the crowd trying to avoid the him.

"I'm the most…best fighter…in the…hic! island." he slurred as he waddled his way toward the two figures trying to get away.

His alcoholic smell alone was enough to cause their noses to burn and their eyes to water. He slagged his way up to one of the figures and stared intently at him while taking another long swig from his half empty bottle. His eyes widened and he took the bottle away from his mouth.

Squinting at the figure, he smiled.

"Hey…aren't you a fe-" the second figure jumped in between the man and his partner, drawing his sword and slamming it into the side of the drunk. There was a long moment of horrifying silence as the figure slid the blade out of the man's side. Two drunken eyes widened in shock, pain, and some other mixed emotions as the drunk put his hand to his side, then brought it toward his face to see red liquid streaming down his hand to his arm.

A drunken grin smeared up his face.

"So…you're a fighter…huh, kid?" he slurred before reaching for his side and drawing out a pistol.

The only sound the figure made was an irritated 'Che' before slicing through the space between them in a quick pinpointed motion.

Blood sprayed onto the sword wielder's face.

The drunk fell to his knees, and then backwards…causing his decapitated head to roll into an alleyway.

-

-

"That should take care of him for a while." the blood painted figure announced. The drunk had been dragged into the alley, along with his head, to keep passing citizens from making an unwanted scene.

"If he had finished his sentence he wouldn't have gotten such a quick end." the partner hissed.

He turned toward the dead body and glared.

"It was your fate to die tonight, and it was my destiny to kill you. It was your weakness that caused you to die and my strength that allowed me to kill you. You cannot escape your destiny nor can you escape your fate. It's unavoidable."

His companion stayed in silence for a while before bending down to the body and picking up the pistol. They stood there for a bit longer, staring at the death device.

"This is bad. Even if he was a drunk, he was able to afford one of these. He must be important... We better go. Captain will need to know about this immediately."

With a nod of approval the two figures ran out into the crowd and became completely invisible to anyone who would have been trying to track them.

* * *

_This place is absolutely disgusting. They should all die, the slobs._

A man walked quickly through the streets of Hevn.

Usually there was no way to walk through the crowds without having either a drunk, pickpocket, or a whore bumping into you, but this specific man was radiating an aura that threatened death to anyone that so much as pointed at him.

The full moon hung low overhead, his favorite time of all.

It was a night like tonight when he craved the most blood. It was rare that the captain would even let him walk by himself next to so many unnoticed people, so many abandoned alleyways, so many people who deserved to die…

A blood lusting smirk cut its way through his pale skin.

He continued trekking through the muddy streets when a bright light blinded him.

He hissed.

"Are you looking for a good time?" a seductive voice called.

The figure's glaring eyes immediately fell upon the owner of the disgusting voice.

It was a woman.

A whore.

She was leaning against an open doorframe smoking a tobacco pipe.

He intensified his glare.

She pushed herself away from the wall and slowly started walking toward him, a seductive smirk on her face at the sight of a new defenseless prey. Her skimpy red dress was useless being her cleavage was basically spilling out of the fabric, and the low cut neckline reached down and curved all the way down to her lower thigh. "Would you like some company?" she smirked. She was behind him now, leaning into him, pressing herself against him, trying to make him feel all her curves, all her skin, all her warmth… "I could do things to you that you couldn't even dream of." she whispered as she wrapped her arms around him and slid her hand on his shoulders and down his chest. Her other hand slid down and traced the inside of his leg now, all the way up to his inner thigh… "Would you like to go somewhere more…private?" she murmured in his ear. She was staring at him intently now. Willing him to look at her, to want her…

It wasn't working.

He was looking strait forward, like she didn't even exist.

Her once seductive face was now an irritated frown.

She slid herself under his shoulder to stand right in front of him wrapping her arms around his neck and leaned in to press her lips against his own. She leaned in and closed her eyes…

"Don't" he hissed as he harshly clasped her jaw with a single hand, stopping her lips from his own even though hers were only centimeters away from his. He shoved her away from him causing her to fall into the wet muddy road.

She was shocked.

She looked down at her muddy self and then into his cold eyes. He was glaring at her with an aura that told her she would definitely die if she made another move on him.

Her eyes filled with tears of fear.

She pissed herself.

"Don't touch me, you filthy whore."

With that he walked off, leaving the woman in the road, forgotten and unwanted.

-

-

It had been about fifteen minutes since his encounter with the whore, and now he was trying to shake it off by ordering a small mug of rum at a close pub.

He was sitting by himself at a small table tapping his leather ringed pointer finger vigorously on the wooden table trying to calm his killer intent, while lifting his mug to his mouth every now and then to take a deep swig to numb his nerves.

Then it happened.

Two tall, scrawny, and annoying men walked up to him and sneered.

"Hey, you're in our table. Move it or you're going to regret it, I assure you." the tall one snickered.

He continued his vigorous tapping and calmly placed his mug down on the table, even though there was a newly made hand shaped dent in the handle…

He looked up at the men and glared.

They gulped.

Being an unknown figure with a deadly glare was terrifying enough, but add a hooded cloak, causing a dark shadow to completely cover all of his face except for his mouth and jaw line, and you were looking at what seemed a killer waiting to pounce.

"Well, beings we're just here to pick up our women, you'll be let off the hook this time." they whimpered bravely.

The figure smirked and grabbed his mug again.

It was about five minutes later and the figure had long since finished his mug, but was too lazy to buy another one. Not yet wanting to leave, he just stared at his tapping finger.

_Splash!_

"Oops. My bad, if only you hadn't been sitting there, you wouldn't have been spilt on." the tall one snickered again as they came for their second round. The figure's finger tapped even faster as his eyes widened in shock from having rum purposely spilt on him. He stood up, causing his chair to go flying, to confront his enemies. "Oh, look! He's just a little guy! What are you? Ten? Eleven?" the other scrawny man noticed. The figure's free untapping hand clenched into a tight fist to keep from ripping out the men's throats. "Why don't you take off that hood so we can your cute little face?" they joked.

He unclenched his fist. His finger stopped tapping. He reached quickly into his cloak causing it to swoosh at the sudden movement, and pulled out a sharp double edged sword.

Sure, they weren't as challenging as he was yearning for, but they would do.

A kill was a kill, right?

-

-

He held his sword to his mouth and ran his tongue over the blunt side of the blade, savoring the taste of fresh blood, before he slowly sheathed it sword and turned around from the massacre behind him.

He stopped.

Standing in front of him was a little wide eyed girl…covered in blood from the spray of his kill, yet she had a bright smile emitting from her face. He closed his eyes in an attempt to ignore her, and walked right past her.

"Thanks for the drink, Old Man." he called to the bartender drying a mug. He placed a bag of change on the bartender's booth and made his way to the door.

'Wait a minute, did that girl have…pink…hair? He wondered.

He glanced back toward the table, but the little girl was gone. All he saw was the two mangled blood stained bodies lying face down on their favorite table.

* * *

"I don't like this place." whimpered a frantic figure clinging tightly to the arm of the other figure. "It gives me a really bad feeling."

"Easy." the companion ordered calmly. "We just have to pick up some medical supplies and then we can leave this place. We really need them, she's getting worse."

The worried figure nodded but continued to cling to his arm.

"If you're worried about that happening again, you don't have to worry anymore. You're a part of my crew now, and if anyone tries to take one of my crewmen I'll gut them faster than they can blink." he reminded softly.

The grip on his arm loosened…a little.

The figures smiled a quick weak smile that everyone around them wouldn't be able to see.

"Let's get going then." the once terrified member agreed.

With that, they continued on their way.

-

-

"Thank you." called one of the figures as they left a medical store with a fat bag full of medical supplies. They were walking in the street when someone roughly grabbed the second member's arm and started running away.

"Captain!" he yelped as he was being dragged away.

The companion snarled and lunged at the man that tried to kidnap his crewman. "Stay back!" he warned as he shredded the throat of the kidnapper with his bare hands. The other member nodded and backed up and sat down on the ground. When the deed was done and the body hidden, the crewmen fell to the cold floor and panted in exhaustion.

"You alright?" he asked hesitantly.

"Yes, sir."

"Good."

"Thank you."

"Don't mention it. Didn't I tell you I wouldn't let anyone try that again before I killed them?"

"Yes, sir."

"Told you, now cheer up."

"I just don't like this town."

"I can understand that"

His friend stared at him curiously, but soon abandoned it once the captain glared at the gaze given to him.

"We better bring the supplies to the ship and head to the rendezvous point." He remembered.

His companion nodded and they headed out.

* * *

**Dawn: In the Pub**

The pub was like every other pub in the town. A huge room with lots of tables all possessing lit candles to light up the room's darkness. There were a few people in the pub at the moment, and the bartender was busy organizing his different bottles and barrels of alcoholic beverages, while a group of five figures sat in silence. The figures were sitting at a large round wooden table drinking to their heart's content, when the leader noticed an all too familiar color on his crewmen.

"Why are you all covered in blood?" snapped the captain.

He glared at the silent member first, who only gave an irritated 'hn' as a reply.

"That's not an answer you sea dog!"

"Captain, we ran into a drunk a while back, and he well, he called him a…" his partner started, unwilling to finish the sentence.

"He was about to call me a female! I am not a woman, damn him!" he bellowed.

The captain nodded his head in understanding.

"So, how did you take care of him?" he demanded.

"I decapitated him, Captain, and then hid his body in an empty alleyway."

"That's what I would expect from a master of weapons."

"That's not all Captain, he was about to use this," the figure continued pulling out a pistol from his cloak, "to try and shoot us. I'm afraid he may have been someone important."

The one known as the captain scowled, but took the pistol from his crewman none the less.

"We'll have to leave soon, luckily we were able to get all the supplies we needed." he started before taking a gulp from his mug of rum. "Now, why are you so bloody…and wet?"

The other figure glared under the shadow of his hood at the captain, then smirked.

"You let me out alone on a full moon. What did you think would happen?" his smirk disappeared in to a deadly growl. "A damn whore tried to kiss me, so I wasn't in the best of moods, but then as I was minding my own goddamn business at a pub these scrawny bastards dumped their drinks on me." He slammed his clenched fist onto the table. "I was seriously trying to hold back, such weaklings don't really suit my thirst, but they thought I was a kid, so I had to set them strait. I simply gave into my deeper desire and killed them. You should have seen it, it was quite fun."

The captain hissed at him.

"You didn't make a scene did you?"

His crewman glared.

"I'm not stupid. The only people in the pub were us, and an uncaring bartender, and some scrawny little kid that ran away. I would have killed them if there were any screamers, you know that." he snarled.

"I know, contain your self."

"How was your fight, Captain?" the silent figure provoked.

"What?"

"You're hands are all bloody, so you must have had a fight."

"Oh, yeah, this…" he was staring at his clenched bloody fist. "A drunk tried to run off with our crewman here," he informed pointing to his hooded partner, "I merely shredded his throat in return. Fair trade." he laughed.

"Fair trade." they all agreed and rammed mugs in a toast.

-

-

"Let's get down to business." the captain ordered as he rolled out a map of the world on the table.

The crew stared at the map making immediate calculations in their heads.

"The empire's army has fifty ships patrolling the Eastern Strait. We'll have to go all the way over here," he said dragging his finger across the maps blue ocean, "through Dragon's pass, then go north to the Dead River bordering the mountain range."

"Captain, if we go toward the whirlpool at Fort Kallaway, we'd cut our travel time by a week, and the imperial army doesn't know how to ride their currents like we do."

"Yes, we could, but if we did we'd run off course for about three days…but I guess it would be worth it… Agreed?"

They all nodded.

"Well then, it's settled. We'll be passing through Devil's Eye."

After having figured out their ship's course, they put the map away and sat silently drinking their well earned rum, when the door to the pub opened causing a little bell to jingle.

"Welc-" the bartender's face lit up with a look of horror and anger. "Leave. You are not welcome here." he snarled. Even after the warning, the new customer continued to walk up to the booth next to the group of mysterious figures, before pulling out its heavy chair and sitting down.

The figures stared at this strange person, one of their member's eyes widened slightly in recognition.

"What a strange hair color…she's cute!" one of them laughed.

The new figure turned her head and looked at them. Her newly washed face lit up brightly and she grinned widely revealing a perfect set of white teeth.

"Hello!" she sang happily.

"She's so-"

"Bubbly!"

They group looked at their crewman.

"Bubbly?"

"Yes, bubbly!"

WHAM!

"I thought I told you, you weren't allowed here! Leave! This instant!" the bartender snarled as he stood over the little girl he had punched to the floor.

She weakly stood up holding her sore jaw, yet still able to emit a blindingly innocent smile.

"You little brat!" he screamed, this time he roughly grabbed her pink hair and slammed her face into the edge of the wooden table.

She fell to her knees, stunned. Her eyes wandered to the half covered horrified faces of the people sitting next to her. She closed her eyes and smiled again, just as brightly as the last time, and this time she added a little giggle, even though a stream of red blood overflowed from the corner of her mouth.

The bartender was about to assault the child again, when two of the figures released their auras of killer intent.

"Enough, you're pissing me off." one of them growled.

The bartender stormed back to his booth in terrified defeat, the little girl watching him go from her stumbled position on the floor. Placing her hand on her leg, she pushed herself off of the ground and sat back down at her table. From there she continued to stare at the figures that saved her from further beating as she rested her head on her pale hand.

_Jingle_

"Welcome!" the bartender welcomed as a group of ten new customers paraded through the small door.

They grinned menacingly.

"Nobody move! My buddies and I are going to take everything worth anything, and anyone who resists will be gutted." he sneered. "You had horrible luck running into the Pirates of Kane!"

The pirates laughed, the customers whimpered, but five cloaked figures and a smiling pink haired girl weren't even paying attention.

* * *

**So, what did you think?**

**I know I had this chapter up before, but when I went over it I noticed how on the next chapter I said previously, but didn't do the previously part in this chapter. Sorry, bout that!**

**I'm sort of doing this story to pass time as I think of other events for my other stories…but I like this so much that I'm probably going to continue it if people like it.**

**Review please!**


	2. Pirates

"Hey, Old Man, get us some drinks!" one of the pirates called as he pressed a knife to the bartender's throat, "Or I'll just have to cut your throat and take it myself."

The bartender whimpered. "Please, I'll do it, so please! Don't kill me! Pleas-" the pirate jammed the blade into his jugular.

"Never mind," he laughed as he cleaned off his knife's red blade, "I'm just going to kill a beggar like you and take it myself."

The other pirates in the group burst out laughing as the fresh carcass collapsed to the dirt floor.

A hooded figure sitting at a far table watched the scene in silence, calmly drinking his rum.

"Well, that was pretty funny wasn't it, men? We'll just have to make life more inter-Hey! What are you looking at you sniveling weakling?" the man who knifed the bartender howled as he noticed the staring figure.

Another figure glanced to his tensed crewman sitting across from him. "Easy." he ordered.

His companion clamed down a little, but not much.

"I said," the pirate bellowed again as he stormed toward the cloaked people, "what are you looking at, you sniveling-?"

"Hey, Captain! Look! It's a girl!"

"What?" he growled as he turned toward where the other pirate was. The captain stared at the pink haired child sitting next to the figures, and smirked. "Well, what do you know? A young woman, so young in fact that I bet her virtue is still in tact." He laughed. The girl tilted her head to the side and smiled. "Take her. We'll sell her to a brothel. I'll bet she'll fetch quite a lot of money, this one's going to be a beauty." He purred as he ran his dirty fingers through her hair.

She smiled at him again, a smile that would soften any man's heart.

"You'll have to catch me first!" she giggled.

"Wha-" the little girl flipped over the table from her spot on the chair, landing elegantly on the ground.

"I said you'll have to catch me first!" she laughed again.

The pirates looked around confused.

"Well what are you waiting for? Get her!" the leader ordered.

The nine crewmen lunged for the child.

"You'll have to do better than that!" she taunted form her place in the air from her powerful jump.

"Bitch!" some snarled as they untangled themselves from the others.

They tried again to catch her, but she was easily able to dodge by leapfrogging over them, running faster than them, or making them run into each other.

"Isn't this fun!" she laughed again with the widest smile she had shown yet as the pirates rammed into a wall when she darted left at the last moment.

Two of the hooded figures gave a muffled laugh at the pirates' misfortune at the hands of a little girl, while the other figures just chose to smirk as they watched the 'battle' with great amusement.

"You brat!" one screamed as he managed to yank her pink hair hard enough to cause her to fall into his arms. "Got you!"

"Na aw!" she giggled. She Stomped hard with her bare foot onto his leather booted one, and then sank her teeth into his arm as hard as she could.

"Ow!" he screamed and unfortunately loosened his grip causing the girl to weasel out and continue running away.

"Told you!" she reminded with another smile and a mischievous playful glint in her eyes.

One of the figures got bored with the pathetic scene and went back to glaring at the table and drinking his rum.

"You have to admit, that kid has skill."

"Yeah, but the fact that she keeps smiling must really piss them off."

"Agreed."

The figures' small conversation was cut short when their favorite little tease had a loud laugh.

"You can't catch me! You can't catch me!" she teased while playfully sticking out her tongue and running backwards, taunting them. "You can't-" her heel caught the edge of a chair. She let out a small surprised gasp as she began to fall backwards. "Oomph!" Her head whip-lashed backwards as her body slammed into the floor, then sliding, scraping her skin.

"She's down!" the pirate captain grinned as he raced over to his to-be-investment, bumping into the figure glaring at the table.

The figure slammed his fist down on the table in anger, but the action was completely ignored by the pirate.

"You know, girlie," he sneered as he yanked the girl off the ground up to his own level by her throat, "I believe that I've caught you."

Even in this life and death state, the girl gave a happy grin.

"Oh! It seems you…have………Congratu………lations…………………." she smiled weakly.

Her pirate captor smirked. If he added just a little more pressure, she would pass out and easily be taken to the brothel. He laughed at the thought and began walking toward the door with her body swaying almost limply.

"Should we help her, Captain?"

"No, it's not our place, not yet."

Close to the door now, the pirate grabbed a small coin pouch from his pocket with one hand, all the while tightening his grip on her throat with the other.

"It looks like…I win." the pirate kindly announced.

"No……not………………yet…I can………still…………………" his captive choked out.

"Thanks for the drink." he laughed, tossing the coin pouch behind him in a jokingly manner. The pouch soared through the air and landed at the figure's table with enough force to cause a mug of rum to topple.

"No! Don't!" one of the figures screamed. It was no use. The one sitting next to the figure tore the protestor's sword out of its sheath and threw it at the pirate. The thrower of the sword's hood fell as he watched the blade cut through the air aiming to lodge itself in the pirate's neck.

The girl closed her eyes.

Blood sprayed.

She slowly and cautiously opened one eye to see the pirate explode into a blast of blood and chunks of flesh as the sword went through his neck. With nothing to hold her up, she fell to the ground with a hard 'thud'. She sat there stunned. The pile of red muck she was sitting in was all there was left of the pirate.

"A-amazing…" she said with a surprised smile.

The crewman of the pirates screamed when they looked at the figure that just killed their captain.

"Red hair? You-you're! Sabaku no Gaara!" a crewman of the deceased captain stuttered.

"Sabaku no Gaara? Why? Why is someone as strong as him here?" another cried in fear.

"What a bother." a figure next to Gaara sighed. "For getting so pissed off over a spilled drink, you should have at least made him buy you a new one before you killed him."

"I was having a bad day." the one known as Gaara hissed through clenched teeth.

"Oh well, I guess it can't be avoided then." he sighed.

With that, all the hooded figures took off their cloaks to reveal five teenagers in black attire. One had cold, pale, colorless eyes, while another was female with brown hair tied in two tight buns, a man with tan skin and blonde hair, another female with long blonde hair and piercing blue eyes, and the read haired boy that reeked of fresh blood and death…Gaara…

"You-you're-" the weaklings screamed.

"Hey, Greg, who are they?" one of the younger pirates asked.

"They're the owners of the Kanoha…the only people to ever survive passing through Hell's Gate! The Shinobi Pirates!" he gulped.

The young pirate squinted his eyes at the teens to get a better look. "Them, they're just kids?" he laughed.

Sand slithered up from the floor around the young pirate's leg and climbed all they way up to his neck.

"What's going on?" he cried.

"It's the Demon of Suna! Run!

"No. No! This isn't happening! That was just a legend! Demons don't exist! No!" he screamed as the sand tightened around him.

He burst into a spray of blood.

"Monster!" a few other men screamed as they tried to scramble out of the bar, knocking people over and stabbing those who didn't bet out of their way fast enough.

"Where do you think you're going?" the brunette growled form her position blocking the door. She held out her already bloody sword toward them. "You shouldn't treat woman like that, it just might get you…killed." With that she sliced through them like she was cutting through air.

"I don't want to die!" screamed the last standing pirate as he raced towards an open widow. He leaped on a table and tried to get out and kicked a candle over. In a matter of seconds the fire seared through the bar, engulfing everything in flames…including the screaming pirate.

"Captain!" screamed the blonde as she dodged a flaming rafter as it fell above her.

"Shit, this whole place must be dowsed in alcohol. We need to leave. Now!" the blonde captain ordered. "Everyone, let's go!"

Then first to leave was the brunette, beings she was the closest to the door. She was then followed by the pale eyed male, then the blonde female, and then the captain.

"Gaara! What the hell are you waiting for? Get out of there!" their captain screamed from the safety of outside once he realized they were missing a crewman. "Gaara!"

"Byakugan!"

The captain tried to run back inside, but was blocked by a wall of fire…and a hand on his shoulder.

"He will be alright. There is a reason he is taking his time. Besides, he has his sand to protect him." informed the pale eyed pirate whose eyes had turned demonic to let him see through the burning building.

"Neji," he pleaded, "but shouldn't we help him?"

"No, these events need to happen on their own, and it is our fate to watch them unfold. I get the feeling…that our destiny is changing…" he said calmly, yet he was shaking with the will to help.

The brunette woman gasped. "Neji…"

* * *

**Inside the Burning Pub**

"Damn it!" a sweating red head growled. "Even if the sand keeps me from being burned, I fell like I'm being baked alive!"

He jumped to the side to avoid a falling ceiling tile.

_That idiot. Their captain didn't even realize he forgot the map to get around the Imperial Army. That wasn't easy to get! How was it he became their captain anyway?_

"I'll kill him for this." he hissed as he tucked the singed map securely into his shirt. "Right after I get out of here."

Following his own advice, he raced toward the door, only to be forced back by a wave of fire.

"Shit."

_All buildings usually have a back entrance for emergencies… _He glanced around quickly for another way out, _…no back entrance…_

"Damn."

If the entrance was blocked, he'd have to find another way out…or make his own.

A fit of coughing soon erupted form his throat as he gasped for air.

_Dammit all…_

He fell to his knees and tried taking slow even breaths. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw something. He turned his head to see what it was.

A pale unscathed body lay right in front of him.

A little girl.

A little girl with pink hair.

"Hey, you dead?" he wheezed as he reached over and started to shake the girl.

No response.

He pulled her closer to him by her foot, and pressed his ear to her chest.

A heart beat gentle fluttered.

_It would be too hard to tell if she's breathing in conditions like this…_

With that thought he pulled her limp body into his arms and carried her toward the center of the bar, the one place that had yet to be devoured by the blazing fire.

No!

The fire raced toward the barrels of alcohol.

_There's got to be another way out of here. Think! Think dammit! There!_

Above him in the rafters was a second room, and in that room was a huge window. With that last hope, his sand swirled under his feet and carried him up to the window.

_Can't…breathe…_

He brought his arm to his face to cover his mouth and nose, and pressed the little girl's body closer to his chest with the other.

_It's now or never!_

_CRASH!_

Glass plummeted around him as he fell from the second story window to the ground below.

"Gaara! Are you alright!" his companions demanded.

Before he could answer a large explosion erupted from the bar as it blew up.

"N…Neji…" he coughed.

The pale eyed teen raced to his side.

"You've taken in a lot of smoke, and you have first degree burns all over." he diagnosed. "I can help you with-"

"Not me………help her……" The charred redhead leaned back a little revealing a small pink haired girl.

"That kid!" the blonde girl gasped.

Neji gently placed her on the ground and checked her vitals.

"She's not breathing." he stated worried. The moon eyed man closed her nose and pressed his mouth to hers and breathed.

"Neji…" the bun haired girl started. She didn't bother to finish.

He continued breathing into her mouth until soft coughing could be heard.

They all looked down to see a deeply breathing fever blush red child.

Neji pressed his hand to her forehead. "She's got a high fever, but she won't relapse."

"Thank god." the relieved captain sighed. "Thank you, Neji."

"Gaara, let me take a look at you now." Neji ordered.

"Back off! I said I'm fine!" he snarled with a deadly glare.

"Thinking you are fine and being fine are two completely different things." he snapped back. An aura of complete killer intent caused the long haired boy to stop his protests. "Very well, but we should get back to the ship as soon as possible, we still need to give the medicine to her before she gets even worse." he compromised.

"What do we do about the kid?" a concerned blonde asked.

"We take her with us. We saved her, she's our responsibility now." the captain declared.

"Understood, Captain."

* * *

**Sorry for any confusion, but the first chapter was too long, so I decided to shorten it so you could enjoy it more without getting so bored.**

**Sorry.**


	3. A Fight For What To Do

**OMFG WE'RE BACK AND WE'RE WITH PIRATES! HOW MUCH COOLER COULD I GET!!!!!!?**

**Random Reader**_**: You'd be a lot cooler if you updated more…**_

**Me**_**: -- I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that.**_

_**Random Reader: I SAID YOU'D BE A LOT COOLER IF YOU UPDATED MORE!**_

_**Me:**_ watery eyes_** I-I-I'M SORRY FOR BEING A LAZY ASS! IT'S NOT MY FAULT! It's genetics.**_ beams

_**Readers:**_ growling and holding pitchforks

_**Me: Eek!**_ runs away

_**Ahem… **_

* * *

"What the hell are we supposed to tell her?" the blonde captain screamed as he vigorously paced across the floorboards of his beloved ship.

The other blonde, the girl, gave a heavy sigh. "You should have thought of that before you kidnapped her."

The captain stopped pacing and let his jaw drop.

"What do you mean I kidnapped her? I did not!" he bellowed. "Did I?" he mumbled quietly in complete confusion.

A brunette girl leaned her back against the cold railing of the ship in a completely relaxed manner as the ocean wind brushed against her face, but that face was frustrated and stressed. "If you think about it," she started as she closed her eyes, "we didn't even ask her if she had any parents or guardians. For all we know her parents are out there frantically looking for her."

"Meaning?" her captain pried fearfully.

She sighed at what she was about to say.

"Meaning, yes, we did kidnap her."

"Dammit! I knew it! We should have left her! I know pirates are known for doing some horrible thing, but this tops all of it! She's going to get the wrong idea about us and think…and think… Damn! Let's go back! We should just drop her off at the port before anyone notices she was ever missing." the paranoid captain cried as he gnawed at the tips of his fingers fearfully.

"If she's that much of a problem, just kill her." came a monotonous voice from the shadowed entryway of the crewmen's sleeping quarters.

The bickering crew turned their gazes to the person who spoke.

The captain let a low growl escape from his throat once his eyes met with the frozen seas belonging to the speaker. "What the hell Gaara?" he hissed. "What do you mean 'just kill her'? Are you insane?"

A sandaled foot stepped forward allowing beams of sunlight to melt onto the form of the blood haired teen. His eyes were cold and threatening, and it was very clear that he didn't like how their captain had reacted to the situation. "Naruto, you are a pirate, and as such you are fighting against the people of the world, and the world itself." Gaara reminded harshly. "You have no need to fret over a child, especially one that has no significance in this world, when it would be much easier to just kill her and be done with it."

"You bastard!" The captain hissed at being referred to with such disrespect. This little outburst was only rewarded with a glare and small invisible smirk from Gaara's lips.

Another growl corroded its way through the captain's throat and up through his mouth. His head was lowered to look at the floor as shaking clenched fists threatened to beat someone senseless, but were unfortunately locked to the owner's sides. "You, you have no right to say those things when you're the one who saved her in the first place!" he screamed.

He looked up to his first mate again, with demonic eyes.

Demonic _red _eyes.

"If you so much as think about killing her," he snarled through fanged teeth, "I'll rip out your throat faster than that damned sand of yours can save you!"

The bellowing captain disappeared with speed from his lunged at his crewman ready to shred him with his clawed nails.

"Stop it! Captain!" screamed the brunette as the blonde girl besides her looked on in horror.

"Dammit!" the blonde man screamed as his attack was proven defenseless against the wall of sand. "I'm not…going…to forgive you…just…yet!" he snarled again in anger as he tried pulled his clawed hand backwards from the sand encasing it, to deliver another blow.

"Shit…" He winced against the pain from the sand. It was now or never. He threw his fist forward at his crewman with all the strength he could muster. "You bastard…Gaara!"

_Drip!_

"C-Captain…" the worried women gasped.

A heavy pant like breathing filled the silence following the blow. "Heh," the blonde captain managed to say as he gave a small smile, "Looks like…your sand…missed."

Stunned, Gaara's face was forced to the side by his captain's clenched fist. A small trickle of blood drizzled its way down the side of his mouth. Two frozen seas for eyes drifted to the unreadable, yet incredibly serious, expression of the captain.

The sand had wrapped its way around the attacker's arm, but it proved nothing more than a pointless cloak, for the punch still landed on its victim.

"We will not kill the girl." The dead serious captain ordered.

A raspy voice managed to escape Gaara's bloody mouth. "What are we going to do with her then?

"We'll make her part of the crew."

"And if she's really part of a government family?"

"Such things don't matter. She's one of us now."

Gaara smirked.

"That settles it then, you heard Captain's orders." Gaara shouts to the girls, "He's made up his mind. We have a new member to our crew. Looks like we've got a lot of work ahead of us."

The fist resting against Gaara's face was pulled back.

The red head turned his head to its original position before meeting his captain's, now calm, blue eyes once again.

"G-Gaara…" the blonde choked. Tears welled at the very corner of his eyes, threatening to fall. "You…why…? I hit you because of…why. Why did you let me hit you when…?"

The only reply he got was a hand pushing against his chest as Gaara tried to move him out of his way. The captain stepped to the side to let his crewman through. "I owe you one, Gaara." he promised. This two was ignored by the crewman who merely continued walking away toward the other end of the ship, but as he passed a certain blonde haired girl…

"Gaara, you let him hit you on purpose, didn't you? You let him lash out on you so he could decide what to do with the kid." she said quietly so that only Gaara, who was less than a foot away from her, could hear her.

He stopped walking for a second as what she said sunk in, but then he continued walking away.

"Who knows." he said finally before he disappeared into another room on the ship.

The blonde woman watched him intently as he walked away, and gave a small smile. "It's not something to be ashamed of…Gaara."

* * *

"Captain…are you alright?" a very worried bun haired girl demanded. She held the shoulders of her shaking captain with her pale delicate hands. "Did the sand hurt you? Shall I go get Neji?" she continued. His shaking just got more ferocious. "Captain!"

"Tenten…I'm…I'm…" he started weakly in her grasp.

"Yes?" she demanded again.

"I'm…I'm…" a loud growl broke the serious silence between them. "I'm hungry!"

The woman just stood there dumbstruck before…

"Ow! Tenten! Why did you hit me? My poor head!" he cried in pain as he defended his golden haired head from further brutality.

"And here I was worried about you, you blockhead." she sighed. With that, she stood up, brushed off her dark clothed pants, and huffed off to go see if Neji needed any help with anything.

* * *

In a dark room two sleepy eyes groggily opened.

"Where…?" a small innocent voice asked to the darkness.

Sleepy eyes began soaking up surroundings and items in the room. It wasn't small, but it wasn't very big either. It had one wooden door the lead out to somewhere besides this dark cavern, and what appeared to be a dresser in the far shadowed corner.

Tiredly, the child sat up, crumpling the soft yet scrunchy bed sheets and blankets on top of her. A pale, smooth skinned arm wandered up to the child's face as its hand began to gently rub at her eyes.

She blinked.

"Where am-" the question was cut off by a small yawn escaping her lips and a small grumble from her stomach. "Hungry…"

With that, the child pulled back the covers and stepped down from the bed.

"Cold!" she winced as her bare feet touched the freezing smoothness of the floorboards.

Her steps quickened her to the door, where she had to slightly reach up to grab hold of the knob. Her pale hands gently turned the handle, and soon the door was open revealing the world to her for all its blinding brightness.

"What?" she gasped as a gust of wind crashed into her face, making her rosy locks dance in her face. She ran her fingers threw it to sort it out, while her other one was sent to guard her face from another gust of wind. Once the wind subsided, she was finally able to open her eyes and see fully the world she was in.

Hesitantly, she placed one foot in front of the other, making her way into the sunlight.

"Warm!" she sighed happily as she allowed the warm rays to dowse her completely.

Walking around wide-armed in the warmth of it all, she soon found herself at a railing, but not before another gust of wind blinded her. In defense she closed her eyes, but when she opened them she gasped, and her eyes widened at the sight before her.

Water.

Water as far as the eye could see.

Waves of dark blues and turquoise greens completed the colors of the scenery before her.

"This is…" she gasped again.

Her feet were soon running on the floorboards as she followed the railing around the curves of the wood. It didn't matter that she did this; she still had the same scene no matter where she went.

Her jaw dropped.

"This is…the ocean!" she announced to no one but herself. She continued running against the railing while soaking in the sight of the ocean, and she was now almost back at the point where she started. "Beautiful! It's so beautiful!" she laughed gaining speed. "I've never seen anything so-" her small frame slammed into something that felt like a wall…

"Owie." she giggled softly as she tried to stand up from her place on the floor. It was then she realized the sun was not glowing on her, no, it was like something was blocking its rays. She stopped looking at the floor and let her eyes drift up to the thing she slammed in to. Curiosity got the best of her and as she propped herself up, and she found herself staring at a rather large figure.

"Um…" she started innocently.

The two of them just stared at each other before they both broke the silence with the same exact question.

"Who are you?"

* * *

**Yeah, yeah, it's sorta short, I know…I was too lazy to make it longer 'cuz what I want to happen next is for the next chapter.**

**So, review please and tell me what you think.**

**I didn't really want to end the chapter in a cliff hanger, so I tried to make it as non cliffhangery as possible…yet still with a little bit of one.**

**I know…I'm confusing…**

**So, my dear readers, this is my Christmas gift to you.**

**HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE, AND ENJOY YOUR SCHOOL-**_**LESS**_** DAYS!**


	4. Welcome Aboared

"Oh, I see! So you woke up and found yourself on our ship!" said the very understanding man as the little child in front of him spilled out all that had happened through mouthfuls of ramen.

"Aha! Oh, sorry I bumped into you before, I was just too excited to see the ocean that I wasn't watching where I was going!" the bubblegum haired child apologized.

She tilted the large bowl of ramen to pour the remaining soup into her mouth.

"Wow, you sure were hungry!" the man said with a wide grin.

The girl placed the empty bowl onto the table. "More please!"

"More? You mean you weren't filled with that one?" he asked amazed.

Her once glittering emerald eyes changed to an empty dry green, though she tried to hide it with a broad smile. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be a burden. I'm fine. Really…"

"No!" the man said frantically waving his hands in front of him to help prove his innocence. "I didn't mean it like that. It's just that I didn't think someone as small as you would be able to eat so much! I find it rather refreshing!"

The pink haired girl just blinked at him.

"You see," he started, "only our captain eats a whole lot of food, so I'm usually only allowed to make small portions. That is just a waste to me. Why eat so little when you can enjoy a whole lot! But I never thought a girl of your size could eat a bowl that's almost as big as you and still be hungry! It makes me so happy!"

"It's because Mister's food is the best! It tastes so good! I can't help but want to eat more! Mister is so lucky!"

"Huh? Why is that?" he asked dumbfounded.

The little girl looked him over.

The young man was leaning on the table with his chin resting on his clenched hand. He was normal looking, but not like anything she had seen in her life! His hair was long and wild, and looked exactly like the mane of a strong lion. She wasn't quite sure if it was a natural birthmark or if he had tattoos, but on the sides of each cheek was a red swirl. But the one thing that the girl found most enviable was the fact that…

"You're fat!" she said with a bright smiling grin.

The man clenched his hands at his sides and tried to control the anger that was bubbling inside him…it wasn't much use.

"I'M NOT FAT, OKAY! I'M JUST A LITTLE CHUBBY!" he bellowed at her.

She froze, stunned by the outburst of the now wheezing man.

"Mm," she said gently turning her head from side to side in denial, "Mister is lucky because he is so big! I bet every time Mister asks for food he gets a lot! I on the other hand…people take one look at me and think I'm a scrawny non eating girl and only give me small amounts." she said in a small, almost depressed manner.

The man calmed his breathing.

"You think being chubby is a good thing?"

"Of course!" the girl yelled rising out of her chair to place her hands on the table. "Chubby people can eat all they want and have proof that they love food! But people like me can't show how much they love to eat! So that's why… that's why Mister is so lucky!"

The man smiled. "You really are something, aren't you?"

She stared at him confused.

"Something? No, I'm not. I'm just me!" she sang happily tilting her head to the side that made the man blush at her adorableness.

"Um…Mister…?" she asked innocently.

"The names not Mister, kid, it's Chouji, Chouji Akimichi." he said with a proud grin.

The young girl's face lit up with an even brighter smile. "Chouji! That's a nice name! It's so cool sounding!"

Chouji blushed once again at being called cool.

"Hey, what's your name? You haven't told me." he asked with a small laugh at his forgetfulness.

The girl traced her fingers over the cuts edged into the table. "I don't know. I don't have one." she said happily.

Chouji looked at her in a new way now…in a way almost like pity.

"Didn't your parents give you a name?" Chouji asked in a concerned voice.

She looked at him and tilted her head to the side as another smile crept its way up her face. "I don't know my parents!"

"Not even your father? What about your mother?"

The little girl looked deep in thought as she tried to remember anything about her parents.

"Well, this old man said the Mamma died when I was born, and then he said something about me being such a demon that Daddy committed something called…suicide…I think…was that the word he used? I don't know what any of those things mean though."

Chouji just stared at her, not quite sure how he should react.

The pink haired innocence blinked at him in a curious way. "Is something wrong Chouji?"

"N-No! I'll go make you another bowl of ramen now, I'll make it twice as big and with pork too!" he said with a fake smile.

"Really!" she gasped in delight. "I would love that! Thank you Chouji! You really are the best!"

"And don't you forget it." he said with a cocky tone.

The next few minutes were spent with Chouji making the new bowl of ramne, and the child watching him make it with a fascination stronger than she had ever felt before.

"Amazing! Chouji makes his food so delicately!"

"Of course, if you don't take time in making your food you only get a half hearted edible substance, but if you take your time and make everything to perfection you can make the most delicious food that will leave customers filled with happiness!"

"Wa? Chouji, did you run a ramen shop before? You know exactly what you're doing!" she bubbled as the man precisely and adequately cut perfectly proportionate pieces of meat.

He smiled as his past memories flooded into his head.

"Yeah, me and my family-the Akimichi clan-specialize in food. My parents and I used to run a shop when I was still a young boy. It was always filled with customers because our food was well known for being the most delectable throughout the whole village I lived in. We served barbeque, ramen, and had a bakery and butcher shop in the back of our house. It was always so lively."

"Oh, I knew you were amazing but this is incredible!"

Chouji looked at her for a quick moment before returning to his work.

"It's nothing, really. Anyone could learn it if they studied long enough." he said quietly as he passed the finished product over to the girl.

She gladly accepted, but with slightly less enthusiasm.

"That's not true." The pinky said determinedly. "There have been many people in Port Angels that have tried to run a proper food shop, and none have come to be as good as you, even with all their training. You have a gift!" she announced proudly as she slurped at the ramen without using chopsticks. "A very, very delicious gift!"

At seeing such a young girl filled with unwavering determination, Chouji couldn't help but laugh.

"CHOUJI!"

Both Chouji and the pinkette were surprised by the sudden outburst of a blonde haired teen stomping into the eating quarters.

"I'M HUNGRY!"

"I get that Captain, you don't have to yell!" reminded Chouji who had lifted his hands to his ears to try to block out the loudness of the captain.

"I want a ramen with two eggs, pork, and tofu!" he demanded.

"Yeah, yeah, Captain, just try to keep your manners in tact when we have a guest." Chouji reminded his captain again.

The blonde stopped his advancements and looked at the girl behind his cook. She merely blinked innocently and stared at him with a confused and surprised look plastered on her bright face.

"Nice to see you out and about!" he laughed.

"You know her, Captain?" Chouji asked confused.

"Of course I know her. That girls the newest member of our crew!"

"Really!" both surprised members said at the same time.

The blonde captain nodded his head in approval. "Really, truly, absolutely, 100 percent, accurately, real."

"Um…" came a soft voice from behind Chouji.

"Do you disapprove?" the captain dared her.

"No, I'm really happy to belong to this crew…but…what does…"

"What does what?" the captain said threateningly. Chouji sent him a cautious glance to see how angry he was. Luckily he wasn't too angry, but he was very serious, and irritated.

The little girl adjusted herself to look at the captain better. "What does… accurately… mean?" she said slowly trying to sound the word out.

"Without any errors and destined to be flawless in its existence." a monotonous voice came from the door leading to the deck.

"Neji!" the captain wailed as he sped around so fast her nearly tripped. "How is she? Is she getting any better? Is the medicine working?" he demanded.

The long haired man couldn't even look his captain in the eye. "I'm afraid not, sir. I've tried all the fields I know, and she doesn't seem to be responding to them."

The blonde charged forward and grabbed Neji by his shirt collar. "Then find something she will respond too!" he bellowed.

This time Neji stared right into his captain's fury filled eyes. "Don't think you're the only one that's angry about this! I'm her cousin! I care just as much as you do, maybe more, but getting angry isn't going to do anything! You need to think rationally in order to figure out what to do about it! Getting hotheaded is only going to make things more difficult!"

Stunned at the calmness that the desperate crewman displayed, the blonde released his collar and walked away.

"Is someone sick?" the pink haired child asked.

The pale eyes of the man wandered over to the kid. "Yeah, we passed through a tropical island a while ago, she must have caught the virus that's very common over there…but the medicine isn't working. It may already be too late to save her." he stated, hand shaking at the mere thought of loosing his precious cousin.

"How do you know she has the virus?"

Neji stared at her. "She was showing the sings of the virus a few days after we passed through, she wasn't eating as much, had chills, then later on she started having headaches, fevers, and major fatigue. Then she started vomiting a lot, until she finally went unconscious. She still hasn't woken up. All of these are signs of having the virus." he said slowly, as if trying to hide his sadness.

"That alone?" the bubblegum girl said wide eyed.

Neji could hardly contain his rage. "Yes! Do you have any idea how serious this is! She could die! Don't act like death is something so meaningless! Once you're dead you can never come back! It is a fate we cannot escape and it is a fate that is feared because of it!" he finished more calmly, as if coming to realize that his cousin was most likely dying, and that he needed to accept that fact.

The pink girl walked out of the kitchen to the deck, slowly making her way past Neji, and then running full speed once she was passed him.

"Did you have to be so hard on her?" Chouji asked quietly, both Neji and their silent captain looked at the cook. "She didn't mean any harm. She probably feels really bad now."

"She didn't take the situation into consideration." Neji said darkly.

"Neither did you, Neji." their blonde comrade accused. "She's just a kid, she doesn't know anything, she doesn't fully understand."

The man of monotone returned to being his stoic self and replied with a small 'Hn' and left the kitchen as well.

* * *

"What's your name?" asked a small child to young woman that appeared to be unconscious. The woman's breathing was heavy and quick, creating beads of sweat over her fever red face just from the mere exercise of it all. "I can't help you unless I know your name." continued the innocent girl as she leaned over to observe the ill crewmember.

"Hinata."

The girl immediately spun around in a moment of shock as an emotionless voice emerged from the darkness of the doorway. The figure stepped closer.

"Her name is Hinata." said the now revealed man with blood red hair as he leaned against the doorframe intently watching the girl.

The pinkette smiled in thanks then turned back toward the sick woman. "Hinata. What a pretty name! It means in the sun, or a sunny place, right?" she said excitedly as she wiped a few strands of the ill woman's short black hair out of her eyes. Once she did so, the woman's eyelids slowly fluttered open revealing a pair of colorless orbs. Though her breathing was still heavy, the woman managed to move her eyes toward the girl to inspect her, slight worry in her eyes.

"It's alright!" the child giggled. "I'm here to help you." with that she dug into her rag like clothes and pulled out what appeared to be a bottle.

The figure at the door seemed to lean forward defensively, as if preparing to attack.

"This was given to my by a healer in a village I once lived in a long time ago. It is a very good herbal remedy, and it helps especially to immediately heal people with your illness." she said calmly letting her smile shine throughout her eyes.

The woman's face cracked into a look of panic at the mention of illness.

"Ah, don't worry. It's nothing serious. Though I suppose it could be… You merely have a case of dehydration." the rosette announced as she placed the opening to the bottle to Hinata's mouth.

Hinata was hesitant to drink it at first, in fear of a terrible flavor, but as soon as the first drop touched her lips, a sense of peace swept through her and she found the taste of it rather delightful, like honey and cinnamon, and she soon drank the whole bottle.

Though she did not know it, the man who had been watching her at the door had come to realize just how strange this girl was. Not only had she pink hair, but her medical skills proved far past Neji's when she immediately realized that Hinata was dehydrated, not with a virus, not to mention the fact that she was able to heal her so fast, or even make her open her eyes without doing anything but touch her.

Confused as he was, Gaara kept on observing the scene before him.

The strange healer knelt down and sat on the wood floor and rested her hand on Hinata's own pale hand. "You need to rest now, for the medicine to take full effect…so, I'm going to tell you a story to help you sleep."

Hinata slightly nodded.

The girl took in a breath and closed her eyes, trying to picture the story she was about to tell.

"In the village where I was born, there was a legend. Based in a time when man was first introduced to the world, lost and confused, there was a goddess that was born from the sea. She had no name, and had no true form. She was merely an essence of existence, and felt pity for the lonely humans. Being the merciful goddess she was, she pleaded to the spirits of the land, asking and begging that she, of the waters, would be able to help mankind. The spirits were surprised at her, for water had never before wanted to interfere with creatures of the land, and told her of a sacred place where she could find help for them.

"In the vastness of the world, was an existence that could not be explained, yet it was the most important, and wisest existence of all creation. A tree, made from the beginning chaos of time, whose roots reached all the way through the earth to the other side, an existence that has felt everything from the smallest of emotions, to the creation of the grandest of mountains. The goddess begged once again for the great spirits of the land to tell her where the tree was located, but the spirits said nothing, for they did not know themselves.

"For years the desperate goddess searched for the sacred tree, but to no avail. From her place in the sea she searched along the shores, and rode the storms and wind searching in the deep deserts and the high hills. After 5,000 years of searching, the goddess returned to the sea, knowing that if she had not found the tree by now, then she had been found unworthy of asking for its help. Another 100 years went by, and the goddess was forced to see the sadness of mankind from her faraway waters. When she could bare it no longer, she cast herself to the waves deciding that if she could not help that of man, then she could not be considered a goddess, and therefore she cast away her life. The goddess had never known about death, and had always thought that when one died, they became that of their element, and she would become the foam left by the waves. Left in the darkness of the loneliness of her unneeded existence, even in death, the goddess was still able to feel, and was still forced to learn or man's growing need for help. No one knows for sure how long the goddess stayed as the foam on the waves, all that is known is that she one day saw a great light, and was filled with such hope that she returned to the surface to see what had happened. Before her was a giant tree that reached up to the sun itself, and down below the waves, all the way to the blackest of depths. Tear of joy filled her eyes at finally being able to find the sacred tree. When she had returned to her dignified state, she asked of the tree to save mankind of the cruelties they are facing, the loneliness, the darkness, the inability to feel what others around them felt. The tree obliged and cast a great mist around the world. All was calm. Man was given the power of empathy for its fellow man, and was able to see the brightness of the sun for the first time, but also, they were able to see the beauty of the vast ocean around them. It was then the first pirates voyaged through the seas. Not to pillage and rob, but to fight for their existence, and to feel the glory of being alive.

"The goddess, proud of the new humans, showed them of her existence, and they were not afraid. However, humans themselves can never be truly happy, and those of the land and those of the sea were bitter enemies. When the free pirates made port, those of the land captured them and sacrificed them to the water goddess, who they had learned of through old sailors. With the blood of her precious pirates spilt in an offering to her, the goddess became weak and full of hate. She vowed that she would never allow those of the land to harms her precious seamen ever again. When another sacrificial ritual was preformed, the goddess broke free of her bonds with the land men, and cruelly slaughtered those who had dared call her their goddess, when they were not her precious humans. They say she disappeared after that, and returned to the sea, forever protecting her pirates from those who were caused them harm on land, in a world meant only for those who loved the ocean. In a place that one must have the strength of the originally pirates, the original sea demons, a place so dangerous that it is to this day, the very entrance to the place feared, called Hell's Gate."

With the finished story, the girl realized that the woman had fallen into a deep sleep, and that her breathing had returned to its natural easy inhales and exhales. A pleased smile spread across her lips, and she soon found that her own eyes were very heavy. Before she could help it, she too had fallen into a deep sleep, head resting on the cured woman's stomach.

Gaara, seeing the two females asleep, left the room to report to his captain.

* * *

"What? You mean Hinata is fully healed! Isn't that great Naruto, Captain, sir!" The brunette cried happily.

"Yeah, really great," their captain said, wiping away tears falling from his eyes. The whole crew, besides the two sleeping, had been assembled on the deck. Gaara had explained to them about Hinata's miraculous recovery once the pinkette had fed her a remedy made to cure dehydration.

"Thank God." Neji sighed in relief. Chouji set down a bowl of ramen in front of him to help relieve him of the stress that had built up inside him. He repeated this process until everyone had a large steaming bowl in front of them.

"Don't worry Tenten, I made yours smaller, so don't worry about not being able to finish it again." Chouji announced. Tenten smiled and began to eat.

The blonde girl broke apart her chopsticks. "Thanks a lot Chouji, you know just how to calm us down through your cooking." she complimented.

Chouji sped away to do the dishes in order to hide his blush. "Anytime Ino." he called back.

"There is one thing that bothers me about that girl." Gaara suddenly said, startling the whole crew.

"What would that be?" asked Ino innocently as she lifted another string of ramen into her mouth.

He was glaring at the floor, arms crossed, as if in defense consentration. "To help Hinata get to sleep, she told her a story about the goddess of the sea and the spirits of the land. Judging by the legend's content, it's obvious she's originally from Damon's Island, where the legend is told as a fairy tale to children. However, there is one thing that those islanders do not know about, yet she did." he continued suspiciously.

Naruto leaned forward to better hear Gaara. "Something she shouldn't know? What do you mean?"

Gaara looked up from the floor with a fierce look in his glaring eyes. "She knew about the sacred tree."

Nearly everyone froze at the statement.

Naruto dropped his chopsticks in his moment of shock.

"You're kidding right?" Tenten said hopefully.

Gaara glared at her.

"…but then that means…" Neji added in with a serious tone.

"But… Captain…I thought we were the only ones that have made it back from Hell's Gate." Ino said in a fearful tone.

Their blonde captain leaned forward and placed his elbows on the table, interlocking his fingers in deep thought.

"It appears" Naruto started with a dangerous tone, "that we are no longer the only monsters of the ocean…"

* * *

**So, what did you think? Please review! I think I already told you about my syndrome…and it's kinda depressing if people just read and don't leave comments or reviews…cuz then I feel like my story was bad and people just looked at it before closing out right away…**

**Anyway, I'll try and update soon, though I can't promise anything…though it won't take near as long as it has to upload this chapter. Why? Cuz I am now in love with my own plotline.**


	5. Lost

**I think this is a crappy chapter, I may change it later…who knows. It's hard to explain things for me. I used to be really good at it when I thought stories through with words, now I see them as movies, which SUCKS because it takes 1000 words to describe one freaking picture! Anyway, hope you enjoy…even if it's not the best.**

**Oh, and I can't really type today, so if you see any errors, that's why.**

**Me no own Naruto.**

* * *

"This is so fun!" a child giggled happily in the sheer joy of the feeling of jumping up and down on the firm wood of the deck, having to adjust where she landed as the ship went up and down with the rocking waves of the ocean.

The pink haired innocent had started being trained by Tenten in order to strengthen herself.

"Make sure to hold tightly onto both ends of the rope, and keep only your wrists moving at your sides at all times." the brunette instructed. She pushed back a wind blown piece of her dark hair behind here ear, never once letting her eyes drift off of the excited kid.

It had been Neji's idea to at least make her physically stronger so that, considering the work that they did, she'd at least have a better chance to defend herself until one of the crew could save her. The fact that it was Neji who asked Tenten to do the training just backed up the fact that she could hardly refuse the suggestion. In order to get the best out of the training, they would have to start small, and work their way up to the vigorous and dangerous training, but as of the moment, she was merely having the child jumping over a spare rope that had been found on the deck.

She was enjoying it more than one could have hoped.

"Can I go higher?" she asked with a laugh as she tilted her head to the side, all they while keeping the rope slapping against the floor at high frequencies and making her feet connect with the floor at faster and faster rates.

Tenten stood up strait at the comment. "What do you mean 'higher'?"

Her student blinked in confusion, but then quickly replaced it with a mischievous grin. "Like this!" with that the young girl sprang into the bright blue sky, high above the head of her tutor and blocking out the sun in her view, all while continuously spinning the rope around her body.

"WATCH WHAT YOU'RE DOING!" Tenten screamed in fear that the girl would fall from such a height.

"It's okay! It's perfectly safe!" she sang back at her.

She was starting to fall, but not as severely as her shocked teacher had thought, thank goodness. Tenten ran over to the area where she would have to land in an attempt to catch her. Her pink hair flailed behind her and just as she was going to crash into the outside wall of the eating quarters, Tenten sprang upward ready to catch her midfall, but she did something Tenten thought impossible for her. She bent her knees slightly and let the full weight of her collide against her firmly placed feet, and then, when the full force was stored, she sprang off again with three times the power and momentum she had when she originally jumped, escaping to the air once again just as Tenten's arms enclosed the space where she used to be.

"KID!" Tenten screamed again this time in absolute terror as she lost sight of her in the rays of sunlight. Shooting her fearful eyes up to the blindingly bright sky she desperately searched for any sign of the girl.

"Where? Where? Where?" she screamed repeatedly when her eyes could not find her in the skies. "Where are you!?"

Her feet dragged her furiously over to the starboard side of the ship to gaze at the water, immediately looking for any ripples or unnecessary splashes possibly caused by a girl falling in.

Nothing…

Nearly on the verge of tears Tenten frantically ran from side to side of the ship, following the railings and staring at the skies and the sea.

"Why!? Why can't I find you!?"

Her throat closed at the mere thought of what happened… and what will…

_She died! It's all my fault! I lost track of her and now she's gone! Even if it was only for a moment! Oh God, what is everyone gonna say! The captain…Neji! Even Gaara! If Naruto and Neji don't kill me it's definitely going to be Gaara who does! Why!? Why couldn't I just do this one simple thing and keep watch over her!? Why!?_

The grief of it all was too much for her to take. Her legs gave way and she collapsed onto the floor. As she crumbled, so did her restraint. She took a deep breath and let out a scream releasing all the emotions locked away inside her.

The door to the eating quarters burst open and a longhaired brunette came bolting out onto the deck, sword drawn, deadly eyes looking for a person to kill.

"Tenten!" he called desperately.

Soft tears and whimpering could be heard, then an all out bawling.

"Tenten! Are you hurt!?" Neji demanded as he ran toward the sound of his comrade.

He found her sprawled on the floor, barely holding herself up with her shaking arms. Rushing to her side he scooped up her near limp body and held her close against his chest.

"Tenten, what's wrong?"

"The kid."

His eyes locked into hers with a type of energy she had not seen for a long time. It was a look of being threatened. Threatened by the mere mention of the kid.

Tenten swallowed the choking lump in her throat.

"I was training her. I just had her jumping rope, then she asked to go higher…" she whispered.

"Higher?" asked Neji in confusion.

"Yes, higher. She jumped into the air and then sprang off the wall to an even higher height. Now I can't find her." she sobbed.

Neji held her tighter as her body started shaking at the memory. He looked at her with his clear eyes to see her face streaked and soaked with tears. She moved her eyes away from his. She was too ashamed at what had happened to even look at him directly.

"I'm so sorry Neji, I just lost track of her for a split second…"

Gently yet quickly, Neji positioned Tenten onto the floor in a more comfortable sleeping-like position, then just as quickly ran over to the wall of the eating quarters only to spring up and flip himself over. He was now standing atop it.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

Bringing his right hand's middle and index finger toward his face for better concentration, he reopened his eyes.

"Byakugan!"

His eyes, now demonically advanced, were busily searching everywhere in a complete 360 degree search span.

_I'm not seeing anything. If she already hit the water and sank more than 50 feet, I won't be able to see her. There's no way. Tenten would have heard the splash. So where? Where is she? Come on…concentrate…focus…focus…focus..fo-_

"What's going on!?" their blonde haired captain screamed as he bolted out of the far side sleeping area's door. Ino and Chouji, followed suit, leaving Gaara to watch over Hinata as she slept, and dashed out onto the deck where they found a distressed Tenten and a Byakugun-ized Neji.

"Tenten!" Ino cried at the sight of her friend.

She ran over to her side.

"What's wrong!?" Ino demanded.

Tenten would not answer, like with Neji, she wouldn't even look them in the eyes.

She was dazed.

"Naruto! Ino!" Neji called loudly, "Twelve o'clock, fifty feet above, the kid's falling right to your left. Catch her!"

"What!" they screamed.

"Hurry! If she lands after falling from that height…" he couldn't even finish his sentence.

Naruto and Ino nodded and sprang out to the direction they had been told. Only a few seconds later, the sun was blocked out.

Tenten turned her gaze over to the spot where the sun had once been, only to see the outline of the girl, falling face first…directly at the area right of her Captain and Ino.

"Too far left! Move to the right! The sun made the direction look farther left!" she screamed desperately when the girl was dangerously close to smashing her face into the deck, maybe only fifteen feet away from it at most.

_Please be okay! Let them catch her. Let her live. I can die knowing she lived. Let her live. Let them make it in time!_

The two realized their error and dove for the body just as she was about to slam into the deck. A cloud of dust and splintered wood erupted from the spot as the small body connected with the ground.

"Captain! Ino!" Chouji screamed.

"Oh God!" Tenten cried. "Neji!"

The rest of the crew looked toward their 'eyes' only to see him arms crossed and sighing with a serious expression. "They got her."

Returning their gaze to the cloud of dust, they could faintly make out the images of two figures lying on the floor.

"Are you alright? How is she!" Chouji whimpered as he, and the others, held themselves back from rushing over to their comrades side.

Movement stirred as the last of the dust cleared away.

"Ow-ow-ow!" Naruto hissed as he pressed his free hand to the back of his head. "Huh, my arm's kinda heavy…" He looked down onto his other arm to find both Ino and the pinkette lying on top of it.

"Are you alright, Captain?" Ino asked softly as she picked herself up while holding the girl in her arms.

"Yeah. What about the kid?"

They both looked down at her and found her unconscious.

"What the hell?" Captain Naruto breathed as he brushed pink hair hair away from her face.

The girl was bleeding all over. Cuts and scratches gouged themselves across her arms, legs, and face. They weren't shallow and small, they were deep, and incredibly stretched out, like something had raked itself across her.

"Even if we caught her she would have gotten scratches from the landing, but we would have gotten the most of the splinters, so hers shouldn't be this deep…" Ino deduced.

Neji bent his knees and launched off the roof, landing in a kneeling position next the the wounded group.

"Chouji, take Tenten into the sleeping area, Naruto, Ino, you follow. Your injuries aren't as serious, I'll take care of the kid."

They reluctantly nodded and limped off to the back room. When they were completely out of view, Neji leaned over the girl to inspect all of her wounds.

_What the hell? This is like…claw marks…How did she get theses from falling?_ _Dammit, I need to stop all this bleeding._

Ripping a piece of cloth from his long shirt, he tied it tightly around her arm, where the deepest gash was found running along the inside, right on the vein. He continued this process until most of the severe wounds were covered.

"My shirt is completely ruined." he growled as he looked his ripped and bloodstained clothes over while reaching for a bottle of cream.

Pink lashes fluttered for a moment as Neji was occupied with applying ointment to the lighter abrasions on her legs. Moments later, they opened revealing the full blast of her emerald orbs.

"Huh…" she sounded weakly.

Neji shifted positions so he was facing her torso.

"You fell." he said flatly looking her directly in the eyes.

He gasped.

He hadn't expected her eyes to be so beautiful. They were like two rare gems, clear and impossible to compare to any other green stone. It was almost hard to pull away his gaze from them.

"I fell?" she asked confused as she tried to sit up. Neji lent her his hand and helped her stand up on wobbly legs.

"Yeah, you jumped too high and nearly landed on your head. Make sure to thank Naruto and Ino, they got hurt trying to save you." he said seriously.

Still stunned and disoriented by the shock of falling, she didn't quite make out what he was saying.

"Neji." came a low voice. Neji whirled around to find Gaara standing against the sunlit wall the child had sprang from. "Go take care of the captain, I can take of the kid from here on." he ordered.

Neji glared, but soon backed down. He couldn't override a ruling by the first mate. Brushing off scraps and splinters of wood as he stood up, he made his way past Gaara to the Captain's quarters.

"You almost died."

Her emeralds drifted over to his sea green ones.

Walking over to the barely standing girl, Gaara bent down to her level to glare at her in the face.

"Don't cause so much trouble for us. You're only worth so much." he informed.

She just stared at him.

Hissing, Gaara stood up and began walking away, then stopped, waiting for the girl to follow. She weakly walked forward, slowly, delicately, hesitantly. She was either in pain at the mere act of walking, or she was scared of him. He sided with her being scared.

A cloud passed over head as he waited, completely blocking out the sun.

Her eyes widened in fear.

"What?" he snapped as she bolted toward him at a limping full speed.

When she was nearly on top of him, she pushed out her hands…and shoved him with all her strength.

* * *

**What'd I tell ya? Crappy chapter right? Oh well, hope to hear your coments anyway.**

**Bye! **

runs away


	6. The Unheard Battle

**Yup, two chapters in one day, never thought it possible did ya? Behold! Look at what can happen to even the biggest of all procrastinators when they have nothing to do on a weekend!**

**Anyway…**

**.Nothing.**

* * *

"Damn-" Gaara hissed as he was sent flying backwards. _Where the hell was the sand!? _His body slammed into the marble wall of the Captain's quarters, cracking and denting a large imprint of a spider web as he did. Gaara's head whiplashed, and his crumpled form slid down the wall until it was slumped against the floor. "How the hell did she have so much strength." he managed to growl. His mouth was producing so much blood that he had to spit just to talk. He looked around himself with blurred vision. Even with the sand, it appeared he recieved this much damage, the sand most likely shielded more of the wall then it did him. "How could-" a wave of pain shot through him like a wildfire soaring through his veins before he could finish.

He would lose consciousness soon.

Murky green eyes looked to the child in a last attempt to understand.

She was in a large shadow, panting heavily. Of course, sending him flying so far must have used almost all her strength. She probably couldn't even move now, and was most likely using the last of her strength just to stand up. Her wounds seemed to have reopened, and she was once again being bathed in blood. Mangled pink hair covered her beat up face, but it couldn't hide the red trickle that was making its way down her own mouth.

_Why? Why would she do that if it would hurt her so badly…_

She coughed a bit as she started to wheeze. It was then she noticed him looking at her. Looking up over to him, she closed her eyes and smiled, a calm, relaxed, goodbye smile.

_Why does she look so relieved?_

Gaara tried to move, but it was no use, he was momentarily paralyzed, and trying to move was making things go dark.

The sound of beating wings could be heard, a loud thumping that made his head vibrate with pain. Only moments after the first sounds of the wings were heard, a large black spear like object tore through the air, piercing directly through the little girl, keeping her in midair

_What the…hell…just hap…pend…?_

His eyes closed, and he was surrounded by darkness.

* * *

**PINKETTE'S POV**

_I'm going to die here…_

…_but…that's alright…_

…_isn't it…?_

A horrible, distasteful feeling erupts from my stomach and made its way out of my mouth.

Blood.

I watch the crimson color drip from my lips into a puddle on the deck. Another drop fell, adding to its size.

…_I'm scared…_

…_it hurts…_

"_**KAW! Finally! My debt to you has been repaid! KAW!"**_ came a shrill voice.

_Who?_

_Who does that voice belong to?_

_It sounds so…familiar…_

My eyes wander hazily to where the voice came from.

_Why does the mere act of moving my eyes tire me out so?_

They soon lock onto what they were seeking, but they're becoming blurry with pain, and tears caused by the pain.

_I am most certain…that the thing…is a…crow…_

"Cioara."

…_what?_

…_where did that name come from?_

_It sounds like my voice, but I do not know of that name._

"Guardian of the Bunget."

My eyes grow wide in fear.

_Why? That was my mouth that formed those words. Why?_

"_**I always told you I would repay you for my eye, KAW! If I knew how easy it would be to kill you, I would have come for you years ago, if only you hadn't gone into hiding."**_ Cioara cackled.

I stare at his eye, or at least where his eye used to be.

I yelp.

The crow has no left side on his face! His head had been completely cut in half!

A new feeling comes to my stomach, and another stream of distastefulness comes from my mouth, this time in the form of vomit.

"_**KAW! KAW! Does your own handy work sicken you! You always were such a vicious spirit! KAW!"**_

_It does not speak through its mouth… __Am I hearing its thoughts?_

The beast turned its head causing an explosion of pain to sweep through my entire body.

I look down, staining the deck with pain induced tears as well as more blood.

I see it now.

I gleaming black beak…

…piercing through my chest.

_Is that why it hurts?_

_It must be…_

_It really…hurts…_

The beak turns sharply ripping an angular slice into me as well.

I scream with the same amount of power as the pain.

"_**What a beautiful sound. KAW! KAW! I've never heard such a beautiful sounding scream before! KAW! Too bad I'm the only one that can hear it! You are trapped in my spell now, no mortal can hear your cries!" **_it laughed.

More tears fall.

_Why?_

_Why am I crying?_

_I've known ever since I was born, that I was going to die._

_Mine was not an existence that should be alive._

_I am not needed in this world._

_No one can help me._

_No one will save me._

_I am supposed to die._

_So why…why do I want so much…_

…_to live!_

"**Heh heh, heh heh heh heh heh." **came a laugh, tainted with the sound of bloodlust.

_Who's there? It's a different voice from the crow's… Who?_

"**If you want to live so much, then kill him."**

_Who are you?_

"**You, and you are me, but together we are two separate existences, yet one."**

_Are we both going to die here?_

"**Do you want to die here?"**

_No! I want to live!_

"**Well, then, we have the same desire."**

* * *

"_**I wonder what your meat tastes like! KAW! It must have the power to rejuvenate me, and return my own power as well! KAW!"**_

"**Don't be ridiculous."**

The crow froze and looked down at the pink haired captive.

"**Who the hell would want to be eaten by a lowlife demon like you?"**

"_**You! When did you-?"**_

"**-awaken?"** the pinkette gave a haunting smile.** "Who knows?"**

"_**Even if you are awake, you are still pierced by my beak, there is no way that you can-"**_

Pink hair blew in the wind before his eyes. The awoken woman was in the air right in front of him, taunting him with her escape as she flew through the air from her powerful jump.

"_**KAW! How did you!?"**_

The woman held out her left arm, in it was clasped a black gleaming spear like object, covered in a dark maroon liquid.

Blood.

"_**KAWWW! MY BEAK! MY BEAUTIFUL BEAK! KAW! KAW! KAW!"**_

The crow flapped its wings wildly when he realized he had had his beak torn off.

The beak wielding woman landed on the deck with soft thud, accompanied by a soft chuckle.

"**Poor, poor Cioara. You were always the smallest of demons." **she said insultingly at the two story bird before her. **"I thought I made it clear last time you confronted me. Maybe I should do worse than destroy the side of your head…"**

"_**No! You already have my precious beak! KAW! I won't come back, just please! Let me go! KAW! KAW!"**_

The rosette smiled again, this time a teasing grin. **"Now why don't I believe that? What was it? Oh! I remember! That's what you said last time."** she finished darkly.

A glare was in her eyes.

She wanted blood.

"_**Please! KAW! Don't! KAW!"**_

"**Begging for your life?"** she appeared right before the crow.

In a last form of defense the demonic bird whipped out his sharply taloned foot and tried to rake them across the woman's body. She grabbed the incoming weapon firmly in her hand.

"_**KAW! Stop it! Please! KAW! KAW!"**_

"**Your's is a pitiful existence Cioara. Such an existence should disappear. Die!"**

Her hand tightened on the crow's foot.

"_**Please! Sto-"**_

He burst into a fountain of bloody gore.

The bloody faced woman relaxed and lowered her outstretched hand.

She turned one way, then the other, looking herself over.

"**Aww." **she sighed annoyed. **"I'm all gross."**

She snorted.

"**Crow demons really are filthy, all the way to the core…literally. Oh well, I guess it can't be helped."**

Raising her right hand vertically above her head, she closed her eyes. Water formed at the tip of her fingers creating a snake like ban than wove itself around her body. It glowed slightly, then immediately disappeared. She raised her other hand, and did the same thing, except for this time the water surrounded the deck of the ship. All evidence of a battle, even the cracks in the wall left by Gaara, were completely washed away.

The now clean woman sighed.

"**Oh well, it was fun while it lasted." **

Licking her lips, she gave one last, satisfied, smile.

With that, the killer of Cioara returned to the inner conscience of the child, and the body was left collapsed on the floor.

* * *

"You awake?" A pale finger poked into the soft skin of the unconscious man. "Hello?"

Two groggy eyes stirred, and snapped open almost immediately after.

Misty green glared at the pink haired child.

"Ah! You're awake!" she giggled, tilting her head to the side to smile brightly at him.

At first he was speechless, and then everything came flooding back to him.

"You!" he growled, clawing at the collar of her shirt until it was firmly in his grasp. He lifted her up like this, venom dripping from the mere intensity of his galre.

"What?" she asked innocently.

He looked her over.

No wounds.

"What happened to Neji's bandages?" he hissed.

She smiled again.

"They fell off!" she informed brightly.

He kept his glare, intensifying the killer energy it gave off. "Where are your wounds then?"

The girl looked herself over. She shrugged, responding to his angry question with a cheerful triple worded answer.

"I don't know!"

Her smile could be filtered all the way to her gleaming eyes.

He turned his face away from her innocent smile. "Chouji's made us our meals, it's time to eat."

He dropped her onto the deck. She landed with her legs underneath her, knees pointing apart, two hands ending up between them.

"Ow!" she yelped quickly, rubbing her knee with one of her hands.

He continued to look at her, but not with a glare this time. He crouched down to her level, knees bent; arms resting on them, face inches away from hers.

"You okay?" he asked without emotion.

Her eyes widened and turned toward him. A new emotion flooded across her face, but he wasn't quite sure what it was...

…maybe a cross between happiness and surprise…

The little girl shook her head vigorously no.

"No, I'm fine!"

Another childly innocent smile lit up her entire face.

"Thank you for your concern Gaara!" with that said, she leaned in and placed her lips to his cheek in a quick kiss. She pulled back, grinned at him, then sprang up and skipped to the eating quarters for supper.

Gaara sat there, stunned at what she just did.

A few moments later he regained his composure, stood up, and followed after her.

His cheek was tingling where she kissed him, and that grin she gave him brought a slight, unnoticeable blush to his face.

But he noticed it.

That girl was just too damned adorable…

…and it was really starting to piss him off.

* * *

**So! What did you think? Please tell me so I can make it better! **_smiles_

**I did a little research on the internet and Cioara is Romanian for crow, and Bunget means something like a forest, just to let you know.**

**Hope you readers enjoyed it!**


	7. Dreams

**I WOULD JUST LIKE TO THANK MY READERS WHO YELLED AT ME TO GET OFF MY LAZY PROCRASTINATING ASS AND UPDATE THIS! I know there was one person in particular who really motivated me, but I can't remember who they were for the life of me. THANK YOU WHOEVER YOU ARE! I HOPE YOU LIKE THIS CHAPTER!**

**Since I haven't updated this one in FOREVER I decided to make it a longer chapter (mind you it is a SHORTER longer chapter, but it was still 13-14 pages on microsoft. I usually only do about 8-9, 10 max. XP)**

**Anyway... ENJOY! AND REVIEW!**

* * *

_**Blood, **_said a voice echoed by the distinct sound of dripping liquid. The metallic smell of fresh pulsing blood filled the darkened space. The very scent of it made his own blood boil, his resolve weaken, and his darkest of urges to start bubbling to the surface.

Gaara felt himself starting to break.

_**She will taste the sweetest; her blood…**_the voice continued. It was the sound of his demon; the voice of his desire. The words circled around him from all angles, as though the voice was a snake tightening around him until he would completely shatter and give in to his demonic lusts. _**Hers is the sweetest of all child's blood. Delectable, warm, flowing, rich…**_the voice purred seductively.

A pleasurable moan escaped the redhead's lips at the thought of the liquid fire that ran through her veins.

_No!_ Gaara scolded sternly to himself and the voice, _I will not drink her blood. She's a member of the crew now. I will not harm the crew. I will not kill her._

_**Perhaps, **_the voice purred in return from right beside him, _**you will not kill her…**_ Though Gaara could not see in the darkness, he couldn't help but feel that the thing was grinning. _**But I will… **_

The thing that haunted his subconscious let out a demonic laugh, as though it were unleashing pure madness upon the world. The sound echoed like a never ending thought inside the black abyss of the place.

Gaara felt a bead of sweat drip down his forehead.

The presence of the thing speaking was growing stronger somewhere in the blackness of the place, and Gaara couldn't help but feel a slight ache of pain as the overwhelming aura of the thing started to crush him.

_You're stuck here, inside my head, forever, as long as I stay awake. I won't let you control me. I won't let you win,_ the redhead coldly reminded his demonic subconscious.

The thing's grin widened.

_**But you're already falling asleep…**_

_You're wrong! _Gaara snapped at the darkness defensively, his breathing starting to become ragged as the thing started to smother him tightly with its building murderous intent.

It started to laugh again.

_**You can already feel it… your spirit weakening. The blackness is growing deeper, larger, and you are small, and fading… You feel your body relax, your muscles growing numb. Everything is calm… Come now… you know you want to… Just close your eyes… only for a moment… What could happen? It's only blood… And you know how delicious blood can taste…**_

_No…_ Gaara tried to protest, but the word came out pathetic and weak. The harder he tried to speak against the demon, the more the demon started to make sense. Already, the redhead was starting to crave human blood. The warm, metallic liquid that made him feel alive…

He felt as though he were being held in the demons hands, ready to be devoured.

_I need… to wake up…_

But he couldn't, all there was, was a never ending black darkness, and the thing… the demonic thing that talked of such sweet things. Swallowing, he tried to keep down the growing thirst for that child's blood. That innocent, smiling, child's life… he wanted it, more than he had ever wanted anything…

He couldn't hear anything, nothing at all, except for the phrase of truth that had come from the demon.

_**But you're already falling asleep… **_

_**Falling asleep… **_

_**Falling… **_

_**Asleep…**_

_No… there's…something else…_ Gaara found himself realizing.

Deep within the overwhelming aura of the demon about to be freed, was another voice. Voices, to be exact. They didn't belong to him, or the demon, in fact, he couldn't help but think they belonged to a pair of females. He couldn't quite make out what they were saying, but he suddenly wanted to know. Whatever the demon was saying no longer seemed important. It seemed completely irrelevant to him. All he could do, all he could concentrate on, was the other voices, and soon, he could make out what they were saying…

"Inoko!" said the first voice.

"No! What do you want her to be, a pig?" growled the second loudly in response.

"AH!" the first voice shrieked in return. The voice was incredibly familiar to Gaara. He couldn't quite place it, but it was so annoying, he couldn't help but want to strangle the girl talking. "Don't be ridiculous!" the annoying voice continued, "Inoko is a beautifully stunning name, full of feminine charm and elegance! It's a name promising beauty, and intelligence, and _grace_…" The last words of the girl seemed strained, as though she were losing her temper, causing them to sound almost ugly.

_**Blood…**_ the demonic voice continued somewhere above him, from a place that didn't matter, for he couldn't pay attention to the old voice anymore.

The nonstalgia of the two voices, the ache of knowing her they were, but not quite placing them, replaced the ache of the pressure of the beast within him. All of the sudden, he could see something besides darkness, he could feel himself on his own two feet. Somewhere, strait ahead of him, the darkness started to subside, and a small portion of light began to flow in.

The voices were still arguing, but someone else was with them now, someone incredibly important…

"ENOUGH!" the important person's voice screamed out, silencing the two female voices all together, "HER NAME SHALL BE RAMEN!"

And then he recognized the loudmouthed speaker.

"Naruto…"

Gaara's eyes opened.

* * *

The room was cold, and stale, with a lack of humidity that made his eyes start to water in their dryness. Candles flickered on the corners of dressers, and on the floor around him; their glowing light casting long dark shadows against the walls; the light making everything in the room visible in a gray sort of way.

Gaara took in a deep breath.

He was sitting on the ground, legs crossed in a relaxed, yet concentration inducing way, his hands resting comfortably on his knees with the palms up. His back was completely strait, and his breathing was ridiculously steady, considering what he had just been through in the abyss of his mind.

Meditation.

The redhead had been meditating. It was natural for him to do so. A full-fledged sleep would release the demonic split-personality within him, so he had never allowed himself to fall asleep, not completely anyway, that is, unless he wanted the demon to be released. Since that was rarely the case, Gaara had kept himself awake for years on end. Doing so had damaged his mental state greatly, enough so that some of the demon's personality had leaked through into his own, muddying it with thoughts of blood and slaughter. This had been the minor sacrifice of keeping the demon within him. However, no human, no matter how strong willed, is not able to survive without sleeping. Though Gaara had mastered how to go days without sleeping, even a week or two if he had to, he was still in need of rest.

Meditation had been the way to do it without actually being asleep.

By relaxing completely and putting his mind into a trance like state, he was able to limit his body's functioning enough so that it would have enough time and energy to repair itself.

Meditation had been the way to cheat the demon, and his way of survival.

"THE HELL IT WILL!" the two female voices Gaara had head in his trace-like state screamed in unison, breaking his observations. The voices were immediately followed by an extremely loud smacking sound, and then a loud crashing as though something heavy had been flown into a wall.

Gaara bolted up, unsure of what was happening outside the room, but he knew one thing: Naruto, Ino, and Tenten were fighting over something, something important.

With a well mastered movement of his sand, all of the candles snuffed out, and he was left once again in darkness, though not as dark as the endless abyss.

He made his way out of the room.

* * *

"Inoko!" Ino was screaming at everyone she could glare at. Though it was a night without a moon, Gaara was still able to make out her form clearly in the darkness. Her hands were on her hips in a stern manner, showing how serious she was about not letting any way other than hers be the one chosen.

"For the last time, Ino, she will _not_ be named after you!" Tenten growled angrily, her hand reaching for a kunai if need be. She seemed to be quite fed up with the blonde's selfish narcissism.

"Did they wake you?" a sweet voice called right beside him.

Gaara jumped, his body tensing, his sand circling around his feet wildly at his surprise.

The pink haired girl was sitting on a ledge right by his chest, her legs dangling over the end and swaying back and forth like most children do. Her head was slightly higher than his was, so she was looking down on him.

She seemed somewhat different covered in a blanket of shadows. There was something mysterious about her, something he couldn't quite place. Her pale face seemed to glow in the night, yet there was something completely dark about it…

She smiled at him, but it wasn't the kind he was used to seeing.

It was a lie; it didn't reach her eyes.

"What's going on?" Gaara asked her in a monotone, yet there was a terrifying edge to it that said he wasn't willing to wait for an answer.

His heart was still beating at an insane rate from his encounter with the demon.

The child looked forward at the arguing crewmates, their voices rising in volume with each passing word. Her eyes looked sad, and lonely, yet she still tried to put on a smile, no matter how fake it was.

"They're fighting because of me…" she started. Her short legs stopped their swaying, coming to a complete stop within a second of speaking, "They wanted to give me a name… and now…" Her shoulders started to shake, and her bottom lip, her plump rosy lip, started to quiver. She was about to cry. Her eyes started to water, so she brought her arm up to them in order to wipe them dry. "They're…" her voice broke as she let out a sob, "They're…so…angry!"

Gaara's eyes widened as he saw a single tear, the only one to escape the wall of her arm, make its way down her chin.

The redhead was unsure of what to do to make the child stop crying, but any of his efforts would be in vain, for an incredibly strong gust of way burst its way through the air, blinding him completely in its power. His hair swayed around him viciously, and he was quite thankful he kept it so short. As soon as he thought it would end, it grew even stronger, and he had to alter his stance so that he would keep from toppling over.

Using his arm as a shield, he was able to catch a small glimpse at the girl. For some reason, he wanted to make sure she was okay, and that the wind hadn't thrown her from her perch and made her hurt herself. Instead, he was shocked to see what he did. The child's hair was blowing behind her, but not as it should be. The vicious wind should have sent it blowing around in a frenzy, but it moved as though it were a simple breeze. There was something almost eerie about it, and her eyes… Her eyes looked strait ahead; strait into the incoming gust, but they didn't water, they didn't squint in the stinging wind, and they didn't even blink. All they did was stare strait ahead, with a gaze that appeared dead and lifeless. It made her look many years older than what she obviously was.

"I am surrounded in chaos…"

Even over the howling wind he was able to hear her, and he could faintly hear the crewmen continue to argue, even over the sudden air movement.

"Did I bring this on them?"

_Did I bring this on them?_ Gaara repeated what he thought he heard her say in his head. There was no way she could have said that. What was she, five? Six at most? Such things don't come out of an innocent child's mouth… The wind must have distorted her words in some way.

"It's not your fault. They're just idiots." the redhead found himself answering her, whether she actually asked that depressing question or not.

Her eyes widened slightly, and a true smile started to creep its way back upon her rosy lips.

For some reason, Gaara felt relieved at seeing her smiling again.

"Idiots…" She repeated, her legs starting to sway again. She closed her eyes happily, cocking her head to the side, and let out a wide, brilliant, grin. "We're all just idiots!" she sang happily, her grin growing wider.

Gaara sighed.

She was way too easy to handle. Here he had been so worried about her to-

Worried?

Gaara scrunched up his nose at the word. When was he ever worried for anyone other than himself?

"Hn." he sounded somewhat irritated.

The outbreak of vicious wind subsided, almost as quickly as it came, and soon he was left with a very pressing matter: What to do with the idiots.

"I told you _Inoko_!" Ino screamed, all feminine 'grace' as she put it, lost.

"_No!_" Tenten screamed back just as fiercely.

"RAMEN!" Naruto screamed even louder than the two of them combined.

"HELL NO!" both girls bellowed at their captain, shutting him up completely.

Gaara had enough of their annoying bickering and stormed over to them, all his irritation apparent on his usually expressionless face.

"_Enough_." he hissed menacingly, glaring daggers at all three of them, promising pain, blood, and torture to anyone who dared speak again, whether they were his crewmen or not. "Stop wasting time over her name! Just name her something simple, not something stupid." he growled, his penetrating gaze sent directly to Naruto. "It can't be that hard picking her a name." He thought for a mere moment, remembering the unmistakable characteristics of the girl. He had decided. "From now on," Gaara continued angrily, turning to the pinkette, "you're Sakura, got it!? And if anyone has a problem with that," he turned back to the rest of the crew, "they can swallow their goddamn words and shut the fuck up!" he finished in an angry huff, throwing threatening glares to anyone who dared protest.

No one did.

"Sakura…"

They all turned to the kid, still perched on her beam sticking out of the wall, as she sounded her new name off on her tongue. She said nothing for a few moments, remaining only in silence as she let the word sink in. After her moment, she gave a brilliant smile, so wide that it looked as though her mouth was stretching beyond it's limits.

"Sakura!" she sang happily, "I am Sakura!"

"Sakura…" Gaara growled, yet it wasn't threatening anymore, it was almost sarcastic, "_You _need to be getting to bed. It's too late for children to be up." He pointed toward the door to the room he had just come out of. It was the sleeping quarters of everyone but the captain, who took the room Hinata was using -just for safety's sake for recovery- and was now occupied by her, Neji, and Chouji. Chouji had just tagged along because if the bed was used by Hinata, it meant the captain would be sleeping with the rest of them. The captain snored incredibly and inhumanly loud, and Chouji wanted to hear none of it.

Sakura's eyes became full of pleading as she looked at the red-haired man who had named her, "But-"

"No buts."

"Can't I just-"

"_Go."_

She gave a childish sob of defeat and walked off, rather slowly, to the sleeping quarters. Everyone knew, however, that she was not depressed; her smile shone in a brilliant flash of white teeth. She was being more dramatic than throwing a tantrum.

"Ahaha! You sure showed her!" Naruto laughed loudly, his laugh coming from deep within his gut. "You're like her parent!"

Gaara sent him a pissed-off glare. "Didn't you hear me? I said children shouldn't be up this late." he hissed.

Naruto was stunned for a moment, oblivious to why his crewmate was so aggravated, but then his words finally sunk in. "I am not a child!"

"The last time you stayed up all night until dawn you were crabby as hell for the rest of the week. Then you blew off the helm with a Rasengan!" Tenten reminded annoyed. _She_ had to be the one to fix it, which was _not_ easy since she basically had to rebuild it from scratch.

"Aw, come on! You can't be ser-"

The serious looks everyone was giving told him to shut up and comply.

"Alright, alright. I'm going. Just don't blame me when you can't sleep yourselves because of my snoring…" With that, the defeated captain wandered his way over to the sleeping quarters.

Just to make sure he wasn't up to escaping, Gaara followed him as well.

* * *

"Gaara…?" a hesitant, faint voice asked in the darkness.

He was in the corner of the room, his head resting against the cold wall in a mock pillow, the moonless night sky casting darkness across his face through the medium sized window against the partnering wall. His legs were in front of him, strait and relaxed, though his arms were crossing over his chest in a tense form of defiance. It had been a long day, and he was not wanting to address whatever problem the newest member of the crew asked of him. The redhead opened his eyes reluctantly. He was almost surprised by what he saw: Her pink hair somewhat wavy with sleep, her eyes weary yet somewhat scared, of the dark perhaps? The rocking of the ship? She was in one of Hinata's old shirts, which covered the girl completely in a flow of white fabric down to her shins, and clenched tightly in one of her small tiny fists was the blue cloth of the blanket she was given.

He said nothing, just looked at her, waiting impatiently for her to state her business.

"Can I sleep with you?" she asked quietly, her eyes somewhat pleading as she took in the shine of frozen green in the darkness of the room.

There was a loud creaking off to the side of the ship as it tilted in the waves, causing the young girl to flinch and let out a weak whimper. No doubt, she could feel the movement of the ship throughout her body, at most in her stomach. She slammed her eyes closed as the fear overtook her, but the moment she felt herself relax, even a little, she dared open them again to look for the answer from Gaara; showing just how much bravery she had.

Gaara took in the pathetic girl, her blanket, her fear, and the Goosebumps covering her skin from the cold of the damp ship. He didn't know whether to sigh or to roll his eyes. Deciding it would be more bothersome to deny her and have to listen to her scared whimpers and shrieks throughout the night, than to just let her have her way, shutting her up.

He gave the slightest of nods to her request.

Seeing this, her eyes brightened greatly, her lips curling into a relieved smile, like someone seeing the sun after an endlessly stormy night. Racing over to the teen, she launched herself at him, her body landing -quite gently, to his surprise- against him. Her little body was pressed against his side, her hand resting on his abdomen, her legs following along his against the floorboards of the sleeping quarters. She even dared rest her head against his chest.

Gaara tensed automatically at the contact, a fearful thrill of paranoia overwhelming him as he felt someone else against his flesh. But the longer he took in the sight of her laying next to him, he found it more difficult to push her away. Sighing, once again, he decided that it would do him no harm, and allowed her to stay where she was.

"Why didn't you ask Naruto?" Gaara asked finally, his voice rumbling against her like a bass, "He has an actual bed."

It took a while for the girl to respond, her eyes shut with sleepiness, her body relaxed, her breathing steady… When she did, it was so quiet, so inaudible, that he had to strain his ears to hear her. "Wouldn't… wake up…"

"That idiot…" he grumbled under his breath, though his chest somewhat clenched at the fact that he had been picked second over Naruto. The annoyingly loud snores coming from the Captain's corner of the room only made him more angry, but the sensation of the girl's breath warming his chest made him relax, his heart beating in rhythm with her steadily repeating exhales. The feeling of it made up for everything…

* * *

The sweet smell of something wild and growing filled his senses, followed by the rippling sounds of water, the cool breeze of the wind, and the nostalgic scent of sun-warmed sand filled him to the brim.

His eyes were closed, taking in the feeling of the desert oasis beneath the shaded protection of a palm tree.

The skin on his feet was in paradise, taking in the lush feel of the bright green grass, a feeling he hadn't felt for the longest of time. His eyes were closed, wallowing in the sensation his toes provided, as well as the refreshing wetness his hand gave him as it trailed rhythmically back and forth in the pool of spring water.

It was a place he hadn't been to in a long time, a place that only he knew about. Surrounded by desert on all four sides, as well as a treacherous terrain of mountains on two, it was a secluded secret oasis where he could freely be himself, without worrying about other people judging him, attacking him, or worrying that he would attack or judge others. It was his secret haven, the one place in his home country of Suna that-

_Wait, _Gaara thought as he opened his eyes, taking in the sights of the oasis, _How did I get here? I was on a ship, in the middle of the ocean, hundreds of miles from home…_

A small sense of panic welled up inside him as the loss of memory filled him.

Strangely, his panic was interrupted by a small giggle and the sound of splashing water coming from the pool. His gaze went strait to the noise, and there, standing knee deep in the shallow end of the pool, was a little pink haired girl.

"Sakura?" he called, unsure of how and why the girl was here. He certainly didn't remember bringing her here…

She didn't answer him, and instead, continued playing by making splashes out of the waves and giggling and shrieking as the waves came back and splashed her. No, the more Gaara looked at it the stranger it seemed, but he was certain of it now, no matter how unbelievable it was. Sakura was not playing with the water, the water was playing with her! It was as though the water had a life of its own, it's own separate person, and it had decided to play a game with the strange pink haired girl, the water forming as hands and children's faces that laughed along with her…

Gaara's eyes snapped open.

There was no oasis, no palm trees or grass, or even sand for that matter. There was no little girl playing in the pool. There was no mystical water that made faces like children and laughed with her. Instead, he was here, in the familiar -safe- sleeping quarters of the Kanoha. He could even feel the slight swaying of the ship as she moved upon the waves. It was his cradle.

It was just a dream, yet here his heart was, fluttering like it would fly out of his chest. Everthing had just been a simple dr-

Dream?

Panic clutched Gaara again.

He had been dreaming! He had fallen asleep! Had he hurt anyone!? Was anyone still even alive? Surely he would be bloody and beaten if his other self had awakened. Naruto was always able to turn him back before. Then again, Naruto was asleep in his bed. Nothing could wake him up once he was asleep. Even if it did wake him up, it would be too late!

The redhead was about to bolt up, to see the amount of damage he had done, terrified that he had slaughtered the entire crew. There was no scent of fresh blood on him or his clothes, but it could just have been absorbed by the sand! Frantic, he pushed off the ground with his hands, but was pinned down by a mysterious weight on his body. The very resistance, which was so unexpected it shocked him, kept him from moving.

He looked down.

There, still sleeping next to him, was the pink haired Sakura. Her body had shifted, so she was more in a fetal position than laying strait, though she still clung to him, only now on his arm. The tip of her thumb was in her mouth, in an adorable sleeping habit.

Gaara dared move his hand, brushing away the curtain of pink hair that hid her face from him. He needed to see her face. How much damage had he done to the kid? He expected to see and feel her warm blood drip down from her forehead once the curtain of hair was gone, but nothing happened. No blood at all.

"Hnwnn" Sakura moaned slightly in her sleep, the sensation of his movement stirring her, though it wasn't enough to wake her up. Instead, she clung tighter to his arm, her body pressing against it, allowing him to feel just how warm her skin was.

He sighed in relief.

If his other self had awakened, the girl would have been dead for sure. The fact that she hadn't even woken up, much less moved, told him that he had caught himself in his dream in the nick of time.

But how had he fallen asleep? He couldn't quite seem to figure that out. He had always been so careful, and late at night was when he had the hardest time sleeping at all. How had he fallen asleep so suddenly, and comfortably? He didn't even remember a face-off with his demon. No taunts or inults. No promises or threats. Not even a yearning for blood.

How had that happened!?

* * *

"Gaara." a voice called to him nervously, "Gaara." it said, this time with a hint of urgency to it.

He chose to ignore it, not wanting to deal with anything at the moment. He had had enough problems for the day already, there was no need to add any more.

Still, the speaker persisted, this time adding a slight shake to his frame by a grip on his shoulder and side. It was pathetically weak, and barely moved him, and felt more like a push than anything else. "Gaara!" the voice said again, more sternly.

Slowly, tiredly, Gaara opened one of his eyes, sending whoever had wanted to wake him a groggy glare, him being too sleepy to give the real thing.

Sakura.

He opened his other eye, thinking the light had played a trick on him, but it hadn't. She was kneeling at his side, her knees rubbing against his sides noticeably. Leaning over him, her hand grasped his shoulder, the pathetic grip he had felt before was actually the firm grip of a child. She was staring into his eyes now, hers filled with uncertainty.

"A ship?" she said, the uncertainty about her making it sound like a question.

"A what?" he asked dumbly, his voice coming out in a hoarse croak. He was not quite sure what the kid was talking about, and truthfully, he was too tired to care. It all sounded like childish bantering to him.

"A ship! A ship!" she repeated, more urgency added to her voice.

"A ship." Gaara deadpanned. He still wasn't sure what she was getting at. Did she not know that they were on a ship?

"Yes, a ship! Go look! Go look!" she huffed as she used her weak little arms to try and push closer to the window.

_I see, _he thought, _She wasn't trying to shake me awake. When she couldn't wake me up, she must have tried to push me over to the window for whatever reason…_

He almost laughed at how futile her efforts were, and at how weak the child was, yet she didn't give up. She used her feet now, trying to use the extra force to get his bigger body to budge. It worked, slightly, and he slid about half a foot. This was enough for him, he no longer found the scene quite as amusing. Standing up, Gaara walked the next couple feet toward the window. Leaning on the frame with his forearm, he nonchalantly looked out at the vast black sea surrounding them. He couldn't see anything at first, besides the faint whiteness of the lapping waves. But for a moment, far, _far_ off in the distance, he thought he saw something. It could be no bigger than his fingernail, proving just how far off it was, yet it was noticeable because it wasn't as black as the sea it was on. It was dark alright, but a darker _brown_ like shadow. So dark, that one would have missed it if they were not looking for it.

Squinting, he tried to make out what it was. It appeared to be a rock, a very large rock, but at this distance, he wouldn't be surprised if it was actually a mountain peaking out from beneath the waves. Or perhaps it was some sort of monster. They were getting closer to Hell's Gate. It wasn't that surprising to see one of the many monsters that lived there come out and terrorize the sailors. It was rare, of course, but not impossible.

"See! A ship!" Sakura called triumphantly at seeing the slight change in expression Gaara had as he tried to make out the thing.

"Look kid, one thing you have to learn out here on the seas is that not everything you see on the water is a ship. That could very well be a Sea Creature from Hell's Gate that just goes around eating the local natives. You'll learn eventually how to spot and recognize such things, but for now just go back to sleep." He was too exhausted to deal with this. Why had she woken him up over a little brown blotch off in the distanace? Even if it was a ship, only the navy and two pirate ships had firepower strong enough to blast cannons off at such a distance and hit their target: Them. He highly doubted that the ship they were looking at was one of the coincidental two pirate ships. Even if it was the navy, he wouldn't worry, for they wouldn't start firing until they knew which ship it actually was they were shooting at.

He was about to shove himself away from the window when a peculiar thing happened. The brown blotch, or possible ship, set off some sort of spark. He couldn't tell how many exactly there were from here, but there were a multitude of lights near the center of the blotch, a faint and delicate light, like a flickering star.

His eyes widened as the scene played out before him. The lights grew brigher, and a loud blasting sound emitted across the night, fallowed by the squealing trail of a cannon ball tearing across a distance at an insanely fast speed.

The echoing blasts and squealing was muffled by Tenten's high pitch yell from somewhere on deck, her voice screaming just what he had realized.

"We're under attack!"

* * *


	8. The Assault

**Yes, people. I updated three stories in one day. MIRACLES DO HAPPEN!**

**I can't believe I haven't said this yet but HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE! (though I'm two days late, haha)**

**If you see any spelling mistakes, don't worry. I'll fix them later.**

* * *

An intense shaking perused as the cannon ball hit the ship, the vibrations of it opening cupboards around the ship and causing whatever was inside to fall out. Sounds of shattering and things breaking could be heard form every room, the creaking of wood breaking being the loudest of all…

The sound was loud enough to wake the captain, who was up and cursing a multitude of profanities as he raced to get on deck to lead his crew.

"Up! UP! EVERYONE GET UP, YOU DAMN SCALLYWAYGS! ALL HANDS ON DECK! REPORT TO STARBOARD SIDE!" he screamed, nearly gashing open his foot as he tripped over a broken bottle while making his way out of the room.

It was pointless to tell everyone to wake up and get on deck, for everyone most likely was. Only Gaara, the captain, and the kid had been asleep in the room, and Neji, Chouji, and Hinata had been in the other. Ino and Tenten had already been on deck, on Watch. Neji, being the skilled warrior he is, was the first to wake up at the sound, and had bolted up on deck before the others even had to realize what was going on. Hinata followed immediately after, then the captain, and lastly the cook.

Another shriek split the night, followed moments later by another threatening rattle of the ship. Luckily the aim of this cannon was off, giving minimal damage, but it was still dangerous.

Gaara bolted over to the window again, rushing past the confused child without a word.

The ship was closer, much closer. So close that Gaara could see what type of ship it was: a Frigate, exactly like their own.

"Fuck," Gaara hissed, knowing how dangerous the situation was at the moment. They could try to outrun it, but the enemy had the upper hand since they were ready for speed. Both ships had massive firepower, but the Kanoha undoubtedly had the upper hand in that division. They had spent most of their fortune buying new, smaller, cannons that packed more punch with better aim than the regular cannons. But it would take time to load and fire. Everything took so much time…

And the enemy was gaining.

Unless something drastic happened in the next few minutes, the enemies were going to board the Kanoha.

"Gaara?" Sakura called, her voice slightly quivering, an edge of confusion and fear in her tone. "What's going on?"

Turning, Gaara faced the girl, only to bolt forward at her.

"Sakura!" he yelped, leaping forward and landing firmly on the floor, the kid pinned beneath him. No sooner than he had, a beam from the ceiling broke free and crashed onto the floor, right where the girl had been standing. Dazed, yet aware, Gaara held a hand to his head, trying to calm the ringing. "Are you alright?" he asked, staring down at the wide eyed child. It was strange, seeing her emerald eyes staring at him without fear. Now that she thought about it, the girl had never been afraid of him, not even when he cut down those people in the bar right in front of her; their blood spraying her small form…

Another blast erupted from nearby, so insanely nearby now. It took only a few seconds before the cannon ball crashed through the ship, the wood groaning angrily at the assault.

"Stay down!" Gaara growled desperately as the girl tired to get up. He placed all his weight on her, his arm and chest pressing down into her face as a cover. The girl didn't seem to understand why he was doing this, for all she felt was the suffocating weight of him. She yelped, trying to use her fists to get him of, fear of lack of air filling her. "It's okay, just a bit longer…" Gaara tried to sooth. Had he had time to think, he would have thought it strange that he was trying to sooth her at all. He had never cared for anyone enough to do so. Even if he did care, the people he cared for were strong enough to handle themselves. But Sakura was just a kid, weak, fragile… His words seemed to have worked, for she stopped struggling against him. Instead, her little fists clenched at the fabric of his shirt, her small head giving a small nod against him.

As soon as the transaction took place, another cannon was fired. This time it was so loud the little girl cried out in pain, her mouth filling with the shirt of her crewman. The sounds of shattering glass and snapping beams over-road the sound of cannon fire.

The window exploded.

Shards of glass went flying, sliding across the room, scraping across Gaara's body. His muscles clenched in pain, but nothing more. It wasn't any major wounds, they would heal.

Just to be safe, Gaara didn't move; not until he heard the sound of a heavy falling plank connecting two ships, the undoubtable sound of booted feet running across it, battle cries ripping through their throats as they drew their swords to attack…

Shoving his hands against the floor, Gaara pushed himself off of the girl. Her face was red from holding her breath, but other than that she was fine. Gaara looked himself over, finding cuts against his skin, dripping blood making its way down his arms, his back, his ankle…

Nothing serious.

The clang of metal against metal, sword against sword, woke Gaara from his thoughts.

"Sakura," Gaara said, his voice serious. He crouched down to the now standing girl, meeting her eyes with his, his hands gripping her shoulders. "I need to go up on deck for a while. Stay here. No matter what you hear, do not leave this room." He stared her in the face, making sure she was paying attention. "Do you understand?" he finished urgently.

Sakura nodded, a small "Hn" of understanding escaping her lips. She clenched her fists in order to keep from shaking, her chin rising defiantly at her crewman.

_I'll be fine, _her stance said.

The redhead almost smiled, the kid was so cute when she tried to be tuff like him. He praised her bravery by ruffling her hair until it was a shaggy mess. "Be good," he told her before racing out of the room, grabbing the sheathed sword sitting on a chair as he did.

* * *

"Gaara!" Captain Naruto shouted upon seeing his first-mate, "Go cover Ino!" he ordered.

Nodding, Gaara sped over to the other side of the ship's deck, leaping over a pile of enemy bodies as he did.

Ino was at the far edge of the ship, her back against the rail. Her breathing was heavy, a dribble of blood coming down from her forehead, but she was fine. And clearly winning. Four enemies surrounded her now, rough looking men, three of which had drawn swords. They were all much bigger than her, and stronger. Yet they were hesitant.

_Did they not realize what ship this was? _Gaara wondered.

Lifting her hands, the blonde woman made a seal. Gaara recognized it instantly, but the other pirates did not. Suddenly, Ino's curvy body was unconscious on the floorboards. The men surrounding her smiled in expectancy, seeing her vulnerable and weak, at what was to come. Unfortunately for them, they did not realize that their comrade was acting rather… strange. Instead of wallowing in the joys of an unconscious female, the man was pulling his sword out of its sheath, slowly, quietly, so skillfully that none of the others even noticed what he was doing.

It was that small moment made them die.

The blade swung through the air so fast that the air itself screamed as it sliced through it, embedding itself in the chest of one of the pirates, cleanly slicing him in two. Shock caused the others to become slow, confusion keeping them from killing their comrades. This second lapse of time killed the next one. His head flew off his shoulders faster than he had time to realize that his comrade was killing him.

The lat one was smarter and seemed to have caught on: His comrade was killing his other comrades.

Kill or be killed.

Before the traitorous pirate had time to turn and take aim at the last pirate, the sword was already coming down on his head.

"Tch." Gaara sounded, not liking having to interfere with another's battle, yet he leapt into action anyway. Just as the sword came down for the killing stroke, a wave of sand came up and blocked it, becoming like a concrete wall between the two. "Pay attention!" he snapped.

Stretching his hand, the sand began to shift and move, encircling the last pirate like a serpent. The man screamed, understanding much too late that the people aboard this ship weren't like the other pirates of the area. The sand kept growing in mass until it was up to the man's neck, working its way from the back to cover his head. All the pirate encased could do was scream in horror, scream until his lungs burst, scream until he died.

Gaara clenched his fist, the sand pressuring the human so much that it exploded, drenching the railing in blood.

"Thanks, Gaara. I owe you one," Ino said truthfully. She had returned to her body now and was standing up, using her hand to wipe away the blotches of blood painted on her face.

The pirate she was possessing was coming too as well, seeing his dead comrades all around him, the terrible memories that he had been unable to control his body in his mind…

Ino slammed her sword into his throat before he could scream.

Off on the other side of the ship the sounds of battle could still be heard. Cries of the Sixty-four Trigrams could be heard, as well as a loud yell of "RASENGAN!"

_Things are serious if the others have to release their techniques. There must be a lot more of the enemy than we had originally thought_, Ino realized immediately.

The blonde woman turned to her comrade, all blood gone from her face, and gave him a knowing look. "Let's go."

"Hn," was all the reply she got, as though the stoic teen didn't agree, but with a wave of his sand Gaara was gone.

* * *

The sounds coming from the deck had Sakura wanting to cower away in a corner, but she wouldn't. She had promised Gaara that she was fine. She did not want to be made a liar, and nothing was worse than cowering away while others were fighting.

She stood her ground, watching the door expectantly, waiting for the red haired teen's return.

Darkness covered the room.

Sakura's eyes widened, then blinked. She wasn't able to adjust to the darkness yet, and she had no idea where it had come from.

Did a cloud pass over the moon? No, even then there would be some light…

Turning, Sakura faced the broken window, trying to decipher what had happened to the light. It was difficult, for she couldn't see anything at all. Not the frame surrounding the window or the hand in front of her face. She walked closer to the open space, carefully sidestepping the shards of broken glass. The planks of the floor were cold against her bare feet, and the draft from the sea made her shudder, but still she went closer.

There was something against the window, blocking out all the light. At first glance it seemed as though the shutters had closed themselves, but it wasn't the cast. She would have heard it. But if it wasn't the shutters, what was it? A wall? But where would a wall come from?

Her breath caught in her throat.

It wasn't a wall. It wasn't a wall at all. It was a ship! The ship was right against the window. It was unbelievable how close the enemy had gotten to the Kanoha. If she reached out she would be able to touch the base of it.

The sound of the door opening caught her attention. Pivoting on her foot, she turned around expectantly.

"Gaara!" she called. Sakura was about to run over to him, but remembered all the glass.

Slowly, delicately, she made her way past the shards, going on tiptoe, jumping out of the way, brushing the pieces aside. Finally she made it to the space by the door where her companion was waiting for her. Only, she couldn't tell exactly where he was in the dark…

"Gaara? Where are you? I can't see anything…" she called, extending her arms in front of her blindly, using them to feel through the air, searching for her friend. "Is it safe? Can I come out now?"

A hand gripped her wrist, startling her in the darkness.

"Ouch!" she cried, the hand was so tight around her that her hand started to go numb. "You're hurting me. Let go! Gaara!"

There was no response. It even felt as though the hold got tighter…

Why was Gaara doing this?

_No_, Sakura thought, _This isn't right. Something's wrong…_

The hand tugged against her, pulling her to the figure's chest. He clung to her tightly, crushing her small form against his chest. She could hardly breath, her lungs screaming at her to get free and breathe. Something inside her screamed at her to run, but when she couldn't it begged for the next best thing.

Pay attention.

Sakura followed the words and concentrated, though she didn't know what she was looking for, but whatever it was, it was different. Everything seemed different about the presence holding her. The feeling was off...wrong. _Everything was wrong!_ she realized, eyes wide. This didn't feel like Gaara at all. His form was different, his aura, even his scent… Gaara was like a hurricane, terrifying, powerful, and strong, yet beautiful and awe-inspiring to her. She felt safe with him, even though he smelt of blood. He was her home, her family… He was the one who gave her her name.

This was not him!

"You-You're not Gaara!" Fear suddenly overtook her at the realization. She was in the grasp of some stranger. Now everything screamed at her to break away, to struggle free of this unknown person. But it was no use, he was too strong, his arms crushing her like a butterfly. "No! Let go of me! Let go! Gaara! Help me! GAA-!"

A painful grip to the back of her neck kept her from fulfilling her scream. She was not unconscious, but was too dazed to do anything. She saw, blurridly, a man staring at her. He stank of booze and blood. She did not like the scent of it. She did not like to look in his eyes, but she could not struggle to get free, she couldn't even move.

_Someone… help me… _she begged in her mind.

The intruder looked down at her, a perverted gleam in his eye. He was used to the dark, taking him able to clearly see the small child in his arms. She was pretty, for a child with unmarred skin, soft features, long, beautiful hair. He couldn't quite make out the color, but that was unimportant.

She would be quite the gift to his captain.

Effortlessly, the enemy pirate threw the girl's limp body over his shoulder, pivoting on his foot, making his way out of the room and back on deck, ready for the retreat.

* * *

"Gaara, let them go," Captain Naruto ordered, placing a firm hand on the shoulder of his first mate. The redhead's leg was already up and stationed on the blood soaked railing, ready to give chase. "They'll spread the word around about us. It will make people less willing to follow us."

Gaara glared after the ship disappearing into the distance, but sided with his captain.

They were going to need as much of an advantage as they could get if they were going to make it back into Hell's Gate. There was enough of a threat from the navy, they didn't need to add other pirates to their list of pains as well.

Gaara stepped off the railing.

"To think they had a Frigate," Tenten awed, still amazed. "Was it stolen from the navy, do you think?"

"That appears to be the most probable of causes," Neji said, cleaning off his bloodies blade with a cloth. "They were quite strong, far above average. If they ambushed a Frigate while it was by itself they may have been able to take control of it."

"Fuck they were fast," Chouji growled, showing just how angry he was, for he was not one to swear.

"It was another Frigate," Ino said simple, "We're lucky our ship isn't sinking."

"Ah!" their blonde captain groaned in aggrivation. "My ship! It's ruined again!" he groaned, taking a look around.

The helm was, once again, destroyed. This time, it wasn't because of him. The railings on the starboard side were gone, as well as most of the planks supporting it. Down away from view huge chunks were taken out of the side of the ship, luckily none were far down enough to cause any threat to sinking, although there would be some water damage.

"THOSE FUCKERS! I'LL KILL THEM NEXT TIME I SEE THEM! HOW DARE THEY BLOW HOLES IN MY SHIP! HURRY UP AND SPREAD THE WORD THAT MY WRATH IS UNQUENCHABLE SO I CAN COME AND MURDER YOUR ASS!

Gaara, not wanting to hear the blonde raving for the next few hours, started walking back toward the sleeping quarters. Truthfully, he was worried about Sakura. He knew she was safe; she wouldn't dare take back her words and go outside while they were fighting. Still… he was worried. Something didn't feel right…

He froze in his tracks.

The door was open.

He was sure he had shut it when he left, He was absolutely positive that that door had not been open.

Gaara went on the offensive, his sand filling the doorway as he burst inside the room. Everything seemed normal, just like it had before.

Things had crashed down from the walls due to the cannon fire, the window had exploded open when one of the cannonballs got too close, glass was still littering the floor, the blankets were still in their heaped piles… But Sakura was not there.

"Sakura!" the first mate called desperately, feeling a sudden hope that the girl was just hiding somewhere. There was no response. There wasn't even a place to hide.

Something caught on his foot as he was about to walk forward; a piece of the pillar that had broken above them earlier…

His eyes narrowed.

A footprint stained the planks on the floor, a foreign boot design he had never seen, a boot size that didn't belong to any of the crew. Someone else had been here…

Gaara raced out of the room.

"Sakura's been taken!" he nearly yelled as soon as he saw his comrades. He ran to the railing, staring out into the sea for any signs of the ship.

There was none.

"What?" Ino gasped, unable to believe that their new crewman had been taken right under their noses. But Gaara wasn't one to lie about things like that…

"What happened?" Naruto demanded, his face calm, his demeanor that of a captain.

But it was no use, the first mate was surround in sand, the element encasing him into giant wave…

And then he was gone.

**

* * *

**

See? I updated. Finally! And I'm finally starting to get onto the main plotline. Whoopee for me!

But I'm tired, so I'm going to bed.

NIGHT!


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